Aaron Fowler’s RELEASE at Anton Kern Gallery is a deeply personal and transformative exhibition exploring grief, memory, and healing through large-scale mixed media works. Inspired by the ritual of releasing balloons to honor loved ones,
Fowler creates monumental assemblages from car parts, wigs, mirrors, seatbelts, and household items, blending personal narrative with communal expression.
Central to the show is Family Release, a 36-foot polyptych depicting a collective moment of letting go. Sculptures like The Shit That Weighs Me Down and RELEASE use physical weight and recycled materials to symbolize emotional burden and resilience.
The exhibition is not simply about trauma but about alchemy—grief transformed into hope and beauty.
A short film, When Loving Is Letting Go, expands this emotional journey into sound and movement. With RELEASE, Fowler invites viewers to reflect on what they carry and what they can release, crafting a space that is at once an altar, a diary, and a call to healing.