PASC – We Need More Whimsy

Opening tonight: 𝑾𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒚. 🌈⁠ ⁠ Curated by Detroit artist Rashaun Rucker, this group exhibition brings together artists from all three Progressive Art Studio Collective studios in a celebration of joy, imagination, and creativity.⁠ ⁠ Tonight, August 6, from 5 to 7 pm.⁠ On view through September 12. PASC presents We Need More Whimsy, a group exhibition featuring PASC artists from all three PASC studios. This exhibit invites viewers to rediscover lightness amid a world often weighed down by uncertainty and unrest. Curated by Detroit-based artist Rashaun Rucker, this exhibition ushers in human desires for joy, imagination, and wonder. Through vibrant colors, unexpected forms, and a spirit of experimentation, these works encourage viewers to embrace moments of delight as acts of resilience. In challenging times, whimsy is not a retreat, but a resource — a reminder that laughter, curiosity, and fun are necessary tools for navigating the world around us. Marear Smith’s “The Detroit Lions Den” presents a lush, playful landscape rendered in vibrant color, where an imaginative lion navigates the land and invites viewers to construct their own narratives about the unfolding scene. Similarly, Lauren Williams’s “By the Sea” is a large-scale painting offering an immersive idyllic landscape filled with rolling waters, fruit trees, winding roads, figures, and dynamic leading lines that evoke a sense of joy and movement. Together, these artworks and others in the exhibition embody the curatorial vision: to evoke a space of respite and happiness, offering viewers a moment of restorative reflection within our contemporary world. Rashaun Rucker is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes photography, printmaking, sculpture, and drawing. An accomplished artist and alumnus of North Carolina Central University and Marygrove College, he has earned a Master of Fine Arts in Print Media from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Rucker creates a diverse range of works, including photographs, prints, objects, and drawings, and has been honored with over 40 national and state awards for his artistic endeavors. His work is represented in several public and private collections.