Scope Creep is an exhibition of new paintings by Indian born Massachusetts artist, Procheta Mukherjee Olson. In this work, Olson uses metaphors of fire to articulate the complex interplay of intense delight and difficulties involved in raising children. In Project Management terms, Scope Creep refers to the undefined and uncontrolled expansion of a project’s scope, usually due to a constant and unpredictable change in the client’s requirements. In like manner, the range of responsibilities in early parenting, specifically in the modern age, is profoundly vast and dynamic. And yet the constant challenges and absurdities of this position are grounded in joy, wonder, and unconditional love. Olson explores these varied aspects through allegorical narratives that blend personal iconography with conventional symbols. These are delicately rendered, figurative paintings that depict intimate dramas unfolding against the backdrop of obscure landscapes. The image of fire repeats itself, morphing as it takes new meaning in each painting, to address the various points of friction, sublimity, warmth, and transformation that are intrinsic to the process of parenting.

Olson draws primarily from her daily experiences as a homeschooling mother of two. These narratives not only capture the personal and idiosyncratic but also the commonalities that bind the collective phenomena of parenting. They invite the viewer to pause and contemplate this complex, quotidian landscape and find within its rhythms and routines moments of truth, beauty, and mystery.