Evan Zuercher art show explores life’s emotions through light and reflection

Inspiration for artists comes from many avenues of life.

For Evan J Zuercher, it stems from a place of exploring acceptance and healing in a broken world.

“Dear God You Dream in Light” is a conceptual art exhibition exploring hope and disbelief through the exposure of light. The work imagines present moments through the eyes of surreal longings and hope beyond fate.

While shifting through sacred and secular boundaries, each piece reflects on Zuercher’s own personal journey from shame and self-doubt to a beauty beyond what he can dream.

Holmes Center for the Arts will host a free immersive art exhibition at The Center Stage at HCA in Berlin that promotes personal reflection and interpersonal connections through art for the community. The show will be held over two weekends, Jan. 9-10 and Jan. 16-17, with additional viewing hours the week in between during operating hours and live music and refreshments served both weekends.

Zuercher’s exhibit will be open for on-site viewing on the following dates, and he will be available for questions and demonstrations: Jan. 9 from 5-8 p.m., Jan. 10 from noon to 4 p.m., Jan. 16 from 5-8 p.m. and Jan. 17 from noon to 4 p.m.

For Zuercher, this artistic showcase is personal, inspirational and a reflection on life that is shared by many people struggling to find purpose.

Zuercher said, “'Dear God You Dream in Light' reflects on my personal story of finding acceptance and healing for my brokenness under the brilliant light of a more perfect perspective than my own. The whole work has been created over the course of four years, embodying the resistance of shame and being covered by empowering grace. The title 'Dear God You Dream in Light' acts as a narrating voice to the themes of this collection.”

The artist said the phrase can be heard in two ways: The first is being spoken to him by a close friend.

“Having witnessed my greatest effort and the earnestness of my heart, they are not blind to my shortcomings or mistakes,” Zuercher said, “the ones that return me to my cycles of decay. Without averting their eyes from where I am or my inability to become who I truly long to be, their voice instead anchors me to a belief beyond my own experience and self-imposed reality.”

The second way this title can be heard is as a reflective declaration — a deep breath and a sigh of relief.

“Without fear, hiding or denying the shade I find myself living in, I am awakened to the fact that someone else dreams in light for me,” Zuercher said. “My life is never solely subject to my own weak attempts and failure to make amends. Instead, there is a higher perspective, an outside resilience that does not give up on dreaming for me. I have found through the years that I am never disconnected but instead exposed and reconstructed by a light beyond the best of my dreams. Something is at work that I had not believed.”

He said throughout the creation process, he discovered certain motifs. Photo negatives have become the starting point for much of his work. After staging and taking a photo, this process allows him to flip the shadows and darkness into a surreal and otherworldly reflection.

He uses the negatives as a reference for his acrylic paintings or digitally for photographs transforming deep shadows into brilliant light. This technique creates visual images that could not be seen by the natural eye and seeks to express something beyond understanding.

“I use clothing as symbolism by either covering or leaving subjects bare and exposed,” he said. “This often represents accepting an outside perspective, either through examination or by being given a different perspective to wear as one’s own. The mirrors in the collection are used to ask for something beyond the fourth wall of the piece. This beckons an outside perspective to be involved as a new identity is uncovered in the stalemate of where I am and where I long to be.”

Self-portraiture also is a key part of Zuercher’s work. By using his own likeness in the work, he said he offers himself up as a character on the stage of each piece. This allows the viewer to witness the themes at play from an audience’s perspective.

“I’ve drawn back the curtain to let you witness a moment in time or an emotion at play,” Zuercher said. “In other parts of the work, self-portraiture is removed as if to place the viewer on this same stage in an experiential way.”

In addition to Zuercher’s show, local artist Ruthie Morehart will have her work on display Jan. 16-17. The public is invited to stop by to experience the talents of these local artists.