Carousel is Brian Mashburn's fourth solo exhibition with Abend Gallery, following Old Growth (2020), Canaries (2021), and Reckoning (2023), each of which sold out or nearly so. The new body of work continues Brian's distinctive approach to oil painting: atmospheric, meticulously rendered scenes where industrial structures and the natural world share the same quiet, misted air. Opening reception: Saturday, May 30, 2026 from 6 – 8 PM; the artist will not be in attendance.

Carousel is a series of paintings reflecting on cultural patterns, familiar stories, and images that circle back again and again. A lot of our shared experience has a cyclical nature. It feels like we've seen it before; effort followed by reset, progress paired with regression and repetition - Sisyphus pushing his boulder.

The work in part features animal figures and forms loosely based on the Chinese zodiac (the 12 signs attributed to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle) and shaped by my memories and experiences moving between Asian and American cultures.

-Brian Mashburn