Aurochs & Adages
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages Oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 4
Werewolf Tree (Never Trust a Coyote)
2015
Oil on paper
50 x 36

Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 6
Never Put the Cart Before the Horse
2014
oil on paper
38 x 50
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages Oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 8
Never Say Never (Frederich Harrison)
2015
Oil on paper
50 x 72
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 10
Can't See the Forest
2013
oil on paper
50" x 38"
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 12
A Bird in the Hand
2014
oil on paper
50 x 38
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages Oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 14
Don't Upset the Apple Cart
2015
Oil on paper
50 x 36
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages Oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 16
You Can't Take It With You (All Along the Watchtower)
2015
Oil on paper
50 x 36
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages Oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 18
Every Cloud (Optimism in All Kinds of Weather)
2015
Oil on paper
36 x 50
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 20
TheRoadHomeIsNoRoadHome
2012
oil on paper
50 x 38
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 22
Wheels Have A Mind of Their Own
2012
oil on paper
38" x 50"
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 24
Investing in a Good Roof Can Save You Money Over Time
2013
oil on paper
50 x 38
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 26
WearLoafersasFortuneSlipsBy
2012
oil on paper
50" x 38"
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 28
MeteAurochsAurochsular
2012
oil on paper
50" x 38"
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 30
A Roiling Stone
2013
oil on paper
50" x 38"
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages Oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 32
What O'Clock Aurochs? (It's the End of the World Oh My Darling)
2015
Oil on paper
36 x 50
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 34
Antlered Nostalgia
2012
oil on paper
50" x 38"
Elizabeth Terhune Aurochs & Adages Oil on paper
Aurochs & Adages ,  article artwork image 36
Up to My Neck in Sleepwalking
2015
Oil on paper
36 x 50

Aurochs & Adages is an ongoing series concerned with nostalgia. What is the hopeless desire to redirect the present backward all about? Adages present a knowing face, wisdom, time-tested knowledge. They fascinate me for their lively engagement with language and they have a long history as subjects for art. Started in 2012 and continuing through 2015, I have worked on this series and revisited many of these paintings each summer for five weeks while teaching as a visiting artist at Skidmore College. The paintings are then stored, upstate, in a friend's attic for the year. In a very real sense, then, the work engages with the past and the dynamic calm of being allowed endless revision. And, while I'm astonished at efforts to revive Pleistocene mammals, this series is not meant to finger wag. If the shoe fits, there is nothing to judge (which presents another side of the project: making adages up).