@ Riverside Art Museum
EXHIBITION ON VIEW: September 14, 2025
Location: Alcoves, First Floor
Deep in the nearby wildlands—somewhere between fable and fantasy—live the Fancy Forest Friends. They may dress well, but they are not far removed from their feral forebears!
The Fancy Forest Friends body of work, including this installation, draws on 19th-century Californian sartorial sensibilities and Victorian-era aesthetics while training a critical, if whimsical, eye on the chaotic collision of wild west colonialist expansionism and robber baron industrialization that gave rise to so many Southern California communities.
This story, however, comes through the eyes of the lovable creatures that lived—and still live—throughout the region. What happens when undomesticated animals take on the trappings of civilization? Step into the Fancy Forest and see!
About the artist: Jared Wright is a multidisciplinary artist from Riverside, California, whose recent work blends acrylic painting and found-object handicraft. He is a web producer and illustrator for Spectrum, a non-profit journal and news website focused on global religion, health care, higher education, international humanitarian aid, and more. He has produced work for group shows and solo exhibitions throughout Inland SoCal.
Image courtesy of the artist.
