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Having spent considerable time in the western United States over recent years, I, a Northeast native, often find that it feels like stepping into a completely different world. The unique light, expansive landscapes, and rich culture strike me as both uncanny and strangely familiar, undoubtedly due to Hollywood’s enduring fascination with the area. Reviewing the submissions for this issue transported me back there, as many Western artists continue to draw deeply from the region’s singular geography and lasting mythology. You will find many examples of this on the pages herein.

As I write this, the major headline in the art world is the closure of the influential Los Angeles-based gallery, Blum. While numerous galleries across the United States have shut their doors amid a contracting art market in recent years, Blum’s closure is particularly startling given its prominence. 

So, what’s going on?

From personal experience, I can say that running a commercial gallery is a challenging endeavor—even in stable times. It’s fair to say that many small- to mid-sized galleries rely heavily on just a handful of artists whose work sells consistently. If one or two of those key artists leave for more lucrative opportunities—a common occurrence these days—the resulting loss can create a serious gap in cash flow that’s difficult to recover from.

Another major challenge is cultivating a dependable collector base. Over the past decade, the generation of collectors that fueled the contemporary art market’s growth over the last fifty years has begun to age out. These collectors…

Feelings of longing, loneliness, and loss course through a group of artworks presented within these pages. Such sentiments seem anathema in the age of social media and its primary purpose to connect, communicate, and share with others. Indeed, through social media we have seen the formation of like-minded communities, the reconnections with long lost relatives and age-old friends, and love finally be found. Yet, despite such efforts by computer-mediated technologies to facilitate interaction with those similar, familiar, and foreign, increased anxiety, depression, isolation, and self-doubt are on the rise amongst users. How do we take care of our mental health and overall well-being in the so-called digital age?

The artists included in this publication find comfort and solace in personal memories and cultural histories. They commune with nature and link disparate parts to form a larger whole. Through research, reflection, and observation, they deepen their experience and understanding of the world. These artists continue to find endless possibilities in their chosen medium, foregrounding societal truths while summoning imaginative, awe-inspiring worlds.

Embracing themes of loss, grief, and environmental instability, Olivia K. Bell layers multiple figures, landscapes, and objects to create an entangled web of sensations. The intensive heat of the Texas sun casts an oppressive pall over her otherwise vibrant paintings where time seems to grind to a halt. Hana Brock reflects on grief, too, finding parallels in lonely, abandoned, and forgotten spaces. Brock portrays the built environment at night, using artificial light to conjure an eerie, moody tone. Devoid of…