The Time We Spend Looking Outside -Dan Fleming and Fernando Rico at the Carnelian Art Gallery.

Last summer Milwaukee was hit with one of the worst rain storms in recent memory with widespread flooding and property destruction that caught nearly everyone by surprise. State fair closed; cars were stranded on the highway; lines stretched outside Home Depot at 6AM with hundreds of people desperate for the doors to open. Others were hit far harder than I was, but the flooding in the basement still led to a month of cleanup, resulted in at least 5 ruined paintings, and frankly turned even the lightest rain into an anxiety inducing event. 

Almost a year to the day later, more than 30 paintings created since the flood will debut at Carnelian Art Gallery in Madison as part of The Time We Spend Looking Outside, a show featuring art from yours truly and Fernando Rico.

I can't say this series was intended: following the flood I had, for the first time in my life, a hard time sitting down and starting something large. A big blank canvas used to breed excitement and energy, but following the flood I just felt drained and anxious. I started doing small drawings on canvas as a way to ease the tension: I could finish a painting relatively quickly and immediacy was what I needed at the time. Also unexpectedly I started painting water-themed landscapes almost exclusively and even more surprisingly, I had a bit of an epiphany, even though afterwards it seemed rather obvious; waterscapes, whether that be lakes, lagoons, rivers, banks, the sea or the ocean​, has been a recurring theme since I started painting regularly. Perhaps more importantly, bodies of water have been an iconic and influential presence throughout my life. When I was young we had family land on the Mississippi and all summer was filled with weekends at Grandma's cottage swimming in the river; when I started getting a little older, summer YMCA camp introduced me to sailing, canoe trips, and the Boundary Waters; Elementary school sports found me on swim team for many years; a trip to Mexico early on brought a near death experience when I was sucked into an undertow; during college I had Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River within walking distance. While these all obviously served as inspiration for many a painting prior to 2025, it took a flood and the resulting paintings for me to realize how present and constant bodies of water had been throughout my life and art and how important those experiences have been.

Over the last year since this realization I've tried to embrace some of the more midwest/waterway inspired aspects of my paintings and drawings and dive into what's become a fairly representative subject matter when it comes to my work. Further, though I've only seen the ocean a handful of times, travelled overseas once, and spent almost my entire life in the Midwest, this connection to water, and the formative experiences I've had with it, gives me a real personal relationship with something ubiquitous to human life bringing real connection, no matter how tenuous, with humans around the world, art history, and the universal human experience. It's something I can call my own, but something everyone can also connect with in some way.

The Time We Spend Looking Outside opens Friday August 7th at 5PM and run until August 30th at the Carnelian Art Gallery in Madison Wisconsin. 

Learn more about the Carnelian Art Gallery HERE
Take a look at the facebook event page HERE