PURCHASE, NY.- “Down the Rabbit Hole” is an exhibition of 50 fanciful sculptures and paintings by Robert Fuerer in the Purchase College Library on view through August 2010. The works are exhibited in the main art gallery and throughout the Library’s central spaces. Admission is free.

Down the Rabbit hole refers to the portal where the strange world of the artist’s childhood memories enter his art. The works, with rabbit heads on formally dressed individuals, are his commentary about the ways in which modern society has darkened his perspective. The global economic crisis capitalism, corporate greed, war, and the loss of innocence are among the themes explored in these neo-social realistic works which are a reaction to the global economic crisis of 2008.

According to the artist: “The collapse of the real estate market devastated my family as well as millions of others. My wife and I lost most of our savings and temporarily separated. I was at an all time low. At the time I was doing one of my typical urban paintings from a study, when I had the sudden urge to destroy something beautiful. Up until that moment most of my art had been about hope and optimism. My appetite for destruction influenced me to jump “Down the Rabbit Hole.” As I did something emerged from my sub-conscious. I remember being so infuriated that I painted a sinister rabbit head over one of the innocent ladies faces in the middle of the canvas,” said Robert Fuerer. (See “Eve”on the 1st floor).

“When I painted the first rabbit’s head,” said Furer “I did not realize its significance, I continued to follow the rabbit as it became a crucial device of digging deeper into my artistic soul. Its symbolism plagued me day and night. As I uncovered its identity I was taken back to my childhood. My pet rabbit turned violent, bit me, and had to be destroyed. I felt responsible. I trace my loss of innocence back to this moment. The moment I realized that life is full of heartbreak.”

“This tragic event found expression in my art,” said Fuerer “and then it began to multiply like rabbits. Neo-Social Realism and rabbits have helped me to investigate the corrupt side of capitalism, corporate greed, war, and especially, the loss of innocence,” he said.

“These themes of social dysfunction reflect the current state of middle class America . In this current show I have synthesized my internal and external circumstances. Balthus and Max Ernst have influenced me, and these works owe a debt to Neo Rauch and the Leipzig School . By incorporating historical awareness with strong narrative painting and sculpture, I hope to be part of pioneering the next wave of figurative art internationally,” he said.