Animals Don't Take Vows: Tortuga, Anne Austin Pearce

Exhibition Label:
“Holding Pattern: New Works at the Spencer Museum,” Sep-2014, Susan Earle and Cassandra Mesick
This biomorphic diptych reflects artist Anne Austin Pearce’s memories of coastal Mexico, where she would stroll along white-sand beaches, marvel at the lifecycle of sea turtles emerging from the ocean, and admire the monumental architecture at the ancient Maya city of Tulum looming above on nearby bluffs. The juxtaposition of the organic rhythms of nature, exemplified by the sea turtles, with the organized structure of civilization, embodied by the Maya ruins of Tulum, inspired this work. Intended to prompt therapeutic reflection, the painting illuminates the tension in today’s world between instinctive, emotional life and the rationality of social constructs-a dichotomy reinforced by its playful title, Animals Don’t Take Vows.