Wardell Milan’s Modern, Tragic Portrait of the Sea

The exhibition’s title, “Modern Utopia,” is a bit of a misnomer; in several of the works, the subjects are “enjoying modern [comforts] but, at the same time, they’re being confronted by all of the struggles and stresses of the time that we live in,” Milan says.

In “Bombs in Applesauce,” for instance, a group of children in a field of flowers are menaced by dronelike flying objects, and in “Lovers. Outside the World Is on Fire,” a couple’s embrace is set against a backdrop of chaos and destruction.