East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Opening May 11

East O’ the Sun and West O’ the Moon is a Norwegian fairytale about a young peasant girl who sets out to rescue a prince from a curse that has turned him into a white bear. Though the narrative is enchanting, you don’t need to familiarize yourself with the story to appreciate East of the Sun, West of the Moon, the latest exhibit at Modern Muse Gallery. “For me, the tale itself has little bearing on the show except for the setting,” says Asheville-based acrylic painter Hunter Jay. “If you’re east of the sun and west of the moon, where are you really? You’re in an ethereal, shifting place of multiple possibilities.” According to Jay, that’s exactly what the show is about: the duality of choice. “Any number of choices are available to me each day I pick up a brush and apply it to canvas,” he says. For this show, he captured both the “light of the sun” and the “mysterious shades of the nocturnal moon” in a series of landscapes. Other participating artists will debut everything from large-scale encaustics to hand-manipulated photography and mixed media.