The Kingston Pop Museum, at 672 Broadway, is hosting a retrospective of the acclaimed artist E.F. Stetz titled "The Long Road Behind" opening on Saturday, July 6. The show will be open through Saturday, Aug. 10.

The exhibition will feature 62 mixed media artworks over six collections from 2015 to 2021, exploring themes of figurative love, abstract surrealism, birth, death, and other forms of appreciation for the vibrancy of life in color. They are the only works remaining amid hundreds of pieces that Stetz has destroyed over the years, as a way to acknowledge the impermanence of art.

“It would be injudicious to believe any artwork is forever," he says. "I prefer to speed up the process if I feel a work is not created with pure integrity. At the very least I, myself, can destroy it with honor and a smile on my face. Honor is the name I gave my flamethrower.”

"The Long Road Behind" is accompanied by the publication of the artist's book, Southbound Traveler Emanating Terrestrial Zeal, which includes the stories of the 62 works, as well as photographs of the artworks destroyed. The book uses poems, text, sigils, and imagery to hide a secret message in the pages.

Stetz is a Hudson Valley native currently on tour with his mobile art studio. His work has shown in exhibitions and art fairs across the US, Mexico and Canada. To learn more about him, visit his website, stetzism.com, or Instagram, @e_f_stetz.

The book release and opening ceremony will take place from 6-10 p.m. on Saturday, July 6 and will feature a musical performance by WAQWAQ.

In addition to "The Long Road Behind," the museum is also displaying "STARFKRS," by David Craig Ellis. This room takeover installation deconstructs two well-known brands and fuses them into a single, awe-inspiring enterprise capable of appeasing the full breadth of consumer demands. Visit Ellis's website at davidcraigellis.com to learn more.