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DAVID LANCASTER gallery

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Enter the peculiar but highly structured milieu of artist David Lancaster, whose worldview is governed by the canon of Planetarianism, a religion that may or may not actually exist.

The canon, ostensibly composed by environmentalists seeking a new and improved religious tradition, proposes a quirky set of edicts (written, for various reasons, without vowels), that not only contain a guide to ethical behavior, but make hilarious and poignant pronouncements on everything from urban planning to Celine Dion.

Lancaster's heartfelt reaction to this bold new religious frontier is manifested in "Planetarianism: The Canon Illustrated," a series of illuminated "conjectures" from the canon painted on sheets of aluminum and meticulously nailed to wood panels with brass studs. The resulting works, dazzling sculptural paintings, can be enjoyed on a purely visceral level or savored for their deeper intellectual commentaries on faith, humanity, and life on a fragile planet.

Lancaster attended the Washington University School of Fine Art, in St. Louis, Missouri and has exhibited throughout St. Louis and Chicago. The artist is also the editor of WHERE Magazine in St. Louis.

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