Meadow at Sunrise, 2026
Oil on linen
80 x 90 inches
DC Moore Gallery is pleased to present Eric Aho: The Meadow’s Edge. In this exhibition, Eric Aho further explores the meadow subject introduced in his 2024 exhibition, Wild Meadow. Returning to the meadow at sunrise, twilight, and throughout the seasons, Aho catches glimpses of transient atmospheres between light and darkness, snow and thaw. Alongside nocturnal paintings of fireflies, moonlit forests, and reimagined Dutch still lifes, Aho addresses the oncoming night and the mysterious forms of illumination therein. Together, these works present an inquiry into the borders of observation and imagination, perception found at the edges of spaces and forms. This exhibition coincides with the release of the artist’s first monograph, written by John Yau, published in September 2026 by Rizzoli Electa.
Throughout the seasons, Aho captures the effects of light on the meadow at sunrise and sunset, whether in the golden yellow of late summer or misty green of early spring. Light casts geometric shapes upon the organic forms, suggesting multiple ways of seeing. In his painting Doppelgänger, he plays with the idea of botanical mimicry, depicting the deceptive ecosystem of the roadside, where poison hemlock grows indistinguishably alongside Queen Anne’s lace, cow parsnip, and Angelica. In paintings of meadows blanketed in snow, Aho investigates the relationship between the visible and the invisible. Grasses and wildflowers become white abstract shapes, appearing laden with snow/paint while also evoking effects of light. These planes of snow are disrupted by delicate traces of plant forms, curving stems and branches and bursts of color.
This meditation on time suggests a more personal inquiry into the landscape, as the painting simultaneously mirrors the natural world and the artist’s interior world. Aho’s Firefly paintings in particular reflect an awareness of precarity and the power of painting to engage with light as a phenomenon and a metaphor. Painted yearly in tune with the short lifespans of fireflies, Aho creates a living record of each generation. In his latest Firefly paintings, the creatures seem to dissolve into mist.
Aho also continues his Dutch Meadow series of vibrant floral abstractions, reimagining the 17th century Dutch still life subject as a living and thriving tableau on the eve of their cutting. Set against the black ground of night, the brightly colored flowers emit their own light. In some of the paintings, fireflies appear in the sky, drawing a connection between the glowing flowers, fireflies, and stars. As John Yau suggests, “By placing still life flowers into a new context, where gardening, cultivation, and ‘tulip mania’ no longer play a role, Aho reinvents still life.”
In contrast to the open meadows, often spreading over two horizontal canvases, is a series of vertical nocturnal views at the edge of the forest. Describing dense stands of snow-covered trees in closely related hues, Aho imagines the full moon across the boreal forest extending from the northern tier of North America to the Nordic region.
The monograph Eric Aho, published in September 2026 by Rizzoli Electa, is the first full-career survey of the artist, featuring a comprehensive essay by critic John Yau and a conversation between Aho and Janne Sirén, art historian and director of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum.
Eric Aho lives and works in Saxtons River, Vermont. Recent solo exhibitions of his work include Eric Aho: An Unfinished Point in a Vast Surrounding at the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT (2016); and Eric Aho: Ice Cuts at the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH (2016). His works are held in the permanent collections of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY; Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH; Denver Art Museum, CO; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA; Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT; Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; The Neuberger Museum of Art, SUNY, NY; New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; and the Oulu Museum of Art, Finland, among others.
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue.
