"His Room as He Left It", a mixed-media installation by Ariel Kotker at the Washington Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
Entirely handmade life-size sculptures that reconstruct the imaginary bedroom full of little details that make birders smile.
Sometimes I am afraid and confused, I guess that's life. But birds, especially small ones, their determination to live gives me courage. They certainly sound unperplexed like Thomas Merton said of a wren outside his window. They seem sure of their way and that they must go on. It clears the fog of doubt from my head. When I saw bird comics created by Ariel Kotker, an artist based in Easthampton MA, I was very moved because they capture exactly the feeling that birds give me. The powerful fact that we are going to live today.
These bird comics are a part of Ariel's exhibit “His Room as He Left It: A Work in Progress” currently on view at the Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery at Dutchess Community College from April 9 through May 16. From the gallery website:
The installation reconstructs the imagined bedroom of Drew Fank, a 19-year-old from the fictional town of Sparkleton, Pennsylvania. Through meticulously handcrafted details—including clothing, musical instruments, personal letters and everyday objects—Kotker builds an immersive narrative that invites viewers to step into Drew’s world and uncover his story.
Here’s another bird comic in the show that I resonated with: two Black-capped chickadees chatting “The sun feels good doesn’t it?” “Sure does.”
I can't remember on what article or a radio show I heard, but there was a story about someone who was about to give up on life. He didn't see anything positive in it and asked his friend what the point was. His friend replied "but, mornings are nice."
When I heard this I felt that was the most truest argument against giving up on life. Things may or may not turn out better, you may or may not get what you want, there may or may not be hope, but there will always be a morning and mornings are nice. I am terrible at getting up early, but when I do and go out in the morning to see birds with friends, the line from Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali comes to mind: Day by day thou art making me worthy of the simple, great gifts that thou gavest to me unasked—this sky and the light, this body and the life and the mind—saving me from perils of overmuch desire.
Ariel’s Chickadees chatting “the sun feels good”, they have been living fully in such great gifts of the “master poet” from the beginning, unlike some of us who still have a little way to go to get there. (I like that Tagore calls the origin of all the elements "master poet" instead of god.)
Because Drew is a taxidermist for birds (unlicensed? Punk taxidermist?) there are so many birdy things in his room that I'm sure will make birders smile, in addition to the bird comics.
Being able to physically step into an imaginary world is pretty extraordinary, like Alice going through the looking glass. “Drew exists in a meanwhile place between death and rebirth. he stuffs birds as a memento mori, a mirror,” Ariel told me.
And then a funny thing happened to this installation. Ariel wrote to me after seeing the photo of the woodcock trash can I sent her: “last week someone emptied Drew’s trash into the real trash and it got squished. after I laughed and cried, I asked that the squished trash be removed from the exhibit (bc Drew wouldn’t have squished it) so the woodcock waste can is empty, there is no shoebox in it as pictured here. I just wanted to let you know!”
The boundary between fantasy and reality vanished for that moment.
I appreciate the way Ariel has nurtured this project - the world and life, rather - not imposing her ideas and agenda, but rather seeing what comes naturally, taking as long as it takes. It is a garden of imagination and is truly one of the best I've seen. The show is on view through May 16, 2025, in the Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery located in the Allyn J. Washington Center for Science and Art, and then will travel to the ECA Gallery in Easthampton, MA, from June 7 through the end of the month, with an opening as part of the Easthampton Art Walk on June 7, 4-7pm.
Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery
53 Pendell Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Gallery hours Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visitors are advised to park in Lot D (GPS address: 97 Cottage Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601). Accessible parking is available at the top of the hill right outside the gallery entrance.
ECA Gallery
Old Town Hall
43 Main Street Easthampton, MA 01027
Gallery hours Tuesday-Friday 12-2pm
https://www.easthamptoncityarts.com/galleries/eca-gallery/
To learn more about Ariel and “His Room as He Left It”, visit: https://arielkotker.squarespace.com/. If you are on Instagram, you can follow her at @arielko13.
