Opening Reception of Solo Show, 'The Ecstatic Dream,' by Anna Kunz

The Ecstatic Dream

Anna Kunz
March 29th - May 3rd, 2025

Opening Reception: Wednesday April 9th from 6:00 - 8:30pm

Galleri Urbane is pleased to announce 'The Ecstatic Dream', a solo exhibition of new paintings and works on paper from Chicago artist Anna Kunz. Meet the artist April 9, 2025 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm. The exhibition will be on view through May 3, 2025.

An essay accompanies the exhibition:

“Last night I had an ecstatic dream. Suddenly before my eyes appeared fields and fields of wildflowers. They were passing by my eyes. Field after field, the meadows full of flowers in the most exquisite colors: blue, yellow, red, purple and they were all so real. I could almost smell them, like in my childhood. [. . .] I always had a very personal relationship with flowers.” – filmmaker Jonas Mekas (diary Oct. 9, 1997)

“What struck me was the revelation: in such a space, a random field of rogue wildflowers, it was impossible to feel anger. The scene and sensations in which he found himself immersed suspended anger. I felt that I wanted to focus on that for myself in the studio and turn once again to nature’s phenomenon as inspiration.” – painter Anna Kunz (email Feb. 20, 2025)

The exhibition of Anna Kunz’s new work is titled The Ecstatic Dream from a reflection by the avant- garde experimental filmmaker Jonas Mekas. The reason for this reference is simple: Kunz created the work while in residency at Monira Foundation in Jersey City, which equally houses the archives of the Lithuanian filmmaker; more broadly the rightness of fortune is complex and deeply intuitive. From this encounter, what resonated with Kunz was the filmmaker’s approach, both diaristic and embracing chance.

It is interesting to assess in what ways Kunz’s own paintings are diaristic, given her process. “Each day I approach the painting in a ritualistic way: I choose one or two significant colors from an experience in the world,” she says. “So I’m making a document of my life in my work through color and surface.”

She is careful to note that it is not The Ecstatic Dream because she is clueless to the moment: there is an urgency in her non-urgency, as curator Jared Quinton once noted. Hers is not a utopian vision. Rather, it’s important to balance the feelings of anger and anxiety with freedom and even joy.