Fading Lands

by Andrew Amelung

A NEW SERIES

Focusing on public lands that are at risk of being lost, Fading Lands is the most recent series of paintings by Andrew Amelung. Follow the series and find new ways to help protect our last remaining wilderness.

Part One: Colorado

Fading Lands by Andrew Amelung

The first part of the Fading Lands series depicts public lands throughout the state of Colorado that are currently under threat. Public access to these lands might be restricted or altogether eliminated in the interest of oil, gas, or mineral extraction, and the process would most likely cause irreparable damage to landscape and environment. Despite this threat, there have been recent developments taken by a variety of interest groups working together with local communities to protect these areas, which include the Roan Plateau, the Thompson Divide, the Upper Fork of the Gunnison, the Vermillion Basin, Grand Mesa National Forest, Browns Canyon National Monument, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and Dinosaur National Monument.

Colorado is the first of eleven western states to be covered in the series, and will be completed in March 2018, along with a documentary video covering the process and threats facing these lands. Work on Utah will begin in April 2018 and is estimated to be completed in July 2018.

Portfolio

In 2006, while working as a land-use planner in Alaska, I initially began painting landscapes as part of an artistic portfolio for graduate applications to study architecture and urban design. While I ultimately chose not to pursue this career path, I did continue to develop this style over this past decade, depicting landscapes in Canada, Alaska, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and the United States.

About the Artist

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

Motivated by my concern for our depleting environmental heritage, Fading Lands is an endeavor that brings together the various skills acquired over my early adulthood. While this can range from land-use and urban development policy to environmental initiatives, or media production and entrepreneurship to design and fine arts, it has culminated in this series of paintings that, over the next few decades, will tell the story of how we decided to care for or neglect the lands that we have collectively inherited.

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT:

After being born in Concord, Massachusetts, attending high school and college in St. Louis, Missouri, working as a land-use planner in Juneau, Alaska, and dropping out of graduate studies in architecture and urban design, I spent most of the last ten years between South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand. Over this time my professional experiences include international relations and foreign language studies (Korean, Japanese, Thai), urban planning initiatives with the United Nations (UNESCAP and UNOPS), social entrepreneurship in green rooftops, work on various film and television sets, teaching language and college test prep, a bit of bartending, a decent amount of hiking and rock climbing, and a lot of travelling. After officially returning to the United States in 2017, I now reside in Colorado with my wife Kyuran, where I am pursuing art, media production, and ways they can be used to make positive changes in our society and our environment.

Get In Touch

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments, requests, or would just like to say hello.