September 7 – November 30, 2019
an online art gallery exhibition
D | E V O L V E raises questions around planetary stewardship. Included in this gallery exhibition are recent works by contemporary artists Ian van Coller, Jennifer Greenburg, Tatiana Parcero, and photographer Paul Turounet. D | E V O L V E contemplates ecological ethics through modern art that addresses global climate change, pollution, greed, and consumerism. This selection of works asks viewers to assess human’s relationship with the planet they call home.
Ian van Coller’s work on climate change and deep time earned him a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship. The two works featured here belong to the awarded Naturalists of the Long Now series, including the recommended acquisition Mayflies & Caddisflies. they are the result of a collaborative effort that merges fine art and science. Van Coller accompanies scientist on field studies and visits their laboratories where he documents their sites and study-samples. The scientists later annotate and draw on van Coller’s photographs; notes explain research and describe findings. These unique works not only merge seemingly disparate fields, a nod to the Victorian naturalists, they bring together different forms of language- visual and written. These hybridized works form a beautiful and urgent contemporary art that is testament to change if not call to action.
Jennifer Greenburg’s work in this gallery exhibition belongs to her new series, Colored Stories. Greenburg has been working with mid-century vernacular images since 2010 on a related project, Revising History, which calls attention to the power photography has in creating cultural ideals and mythologies. Colored Stories is after the same aim but concentrates on the raw aesthetic element of color. Greenburg’s abstract, minimalistic prints sample from mid-century items marketed to Americans. Joyous palates selected by manufacturers reflect yet mask issues of the time, playing off consumer’s concerns while perpetuating a problem. The recommended acquisition Ecology through consumerism by Jennifer Greenburg references a specific incident: reactions to a 1970’s oil spill in Santa Barbara, CA. Manufacturers added a bit of green or brown to existing paint mix in the production-line, shifting the popular turquoise, canary yellow, and cherry-red of the 50’s and 60’s into earth tones. Avocado green, harvest gold, and poppy red became vogue even as the use of non-recyclable materials were on the rise.
Tatiana Parcero’s work explores our place in the universe. The Mexican-born, Argentinian-based artist is most known for her work on identity, mapping, and the body. Parcero has been expanding the scope of her work subtly yet philosophically through the years. Like a meditation on existence, her work explores personal and universal themes. The artist has been known to integrate appropriated imagery, such as anatomical drawings, codices, colonial and astrological maps, chemical constructions, and naturalist-style drawings with images of her body. Fine art works selected for this gallery exhibition from the Universus series, including some recommended acquisitions. They are distinct and literal; we desire to reunite the broken frame. Acting as a siren, these works allude to what we may no longer have if we don’t care for our environment.
Paul Turounet’s dazzling works feel more like abstract painting than photography. The psychedelic allure of these images is both mesmerizing and dangerous, and for good reason: the subject is toxic. These images are from a series Beneath the Dirt of Great Men that draws attention to the carbon landscape of oil production, which is now driving a second energy boom in the Permian Basin of Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. The black gold being raised from the earth is now being done at many sites through fracking. Among other subjects at these sites, Turounet has been photographing the reservoir ponds that hold wastewater from the fracking process. This series is being developed for The Extraction Project, and is part of a larger survey by the artist on the American Condition, Somewhere out there, something is happening.
An Online Art Gallery Exhibition
This is our first exclusively online gallery exhibition; fitting to the exhibition themes, online exhibitions allow for scholarly practice and thoughtful contextualization while offering international exposure on a greener platform.