Visual Arts
In a startling variety of ways, contemporary artists are exploring the relationship that our species has to its planet. We have aggregated some of this very intriguing work below. If you have suggestions for works to add to the gallery, please contact us.
Works can also be viewed in portfolio view.
2014-15 Curator: Julia Olson
Geneva-based self-taught photographer Alex Teuscher wanted to capture the fantastic architecture of New York City. He explored for ten days and documented iconic locations like Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. Afterwards, using a wide variety of post-processing techniques, Teuscher transformed his photographs into a dynamic black and white collection. By eliminating color, he created dramatic lights and shadows that produce an unusually eerie quality and change the traditionally bright, lively, and energetic way that viewers perceive the frequently visited spots. (source).
Installed earlier this month on the western coastline of New Providence in Nassau, Bahamas, Ocean Atlas is the lastest underwater sculpture by artist Jason deCaires Taylor, known for his pioneering effort to build submerged sculpture parks in oceans around the world. Taylor’s cement figures are constructed with a sustainable pH-neutral material that encourages the growth of coral and other marine wildlife, effectively forming an artificial reef that draws tourists away from diving hotspots in over-stressed areas. Towering 18 feet tall and weighing in at more than 60 tons, Ocean Atlas is reportedly the largest sculpture ever deployed underwater. The artwork depicts a local Bahamian girl carrying the weight of the ocean above her in reference to the Ancient Greek myth of Atlas, the primordial Titan who held up the celestial spheres (source).
Spanish photographer Juan Aballe noticed that many of his close friends were moving to the countryside. Aballe found himself confronted by the thought – what would life be like if he packed it all in and headed out to the country? In a series of photographs titled Country Fictions, Aballe explores the comparability of imagined pastoral utopias versus reality. Aballe shot in a number scarcely populated areas on the Iberian Peninsula. “In what could be called a collection of daydreams, Country Fictions reflects on the photographic language itself and how we are influenced by previous representations and preconceived ideas about rural utopias” says Aballe. “The illusion of escaping from contemporary society, the naivety and the hopes built around nature come together with the strangeness and the nostalgic look at a life that is not mine.”(source).
Photographer Mike Hollinshead produces moving supercell images that are straightforward animations of still frames, not the result of compositing as they appear. Hollinshead’s inspiration comes from the storms he watched as a kid. In 2002 he purchased his first camera and only recently began manipulating photographs to create arresting images of nature that reimagine the way we capture movement in space. (source, source).
Artist Kay Sekimachi uses the remarkably delicate materials, such as leaves and thread, to “try to make something with the simplest of means.” She uses the loom to construct three-dimensional sculptural forms. In the early 1970s she used nylon monofilament to create hanging quadruple tubular woven forms to explore ideas of space, transparency, and movement. Inspired by her ancestral homeland of Japan, Sekimachi repeatedly returns to that ancient culture for ideas. Sekimachi eschews color in order to reinforce the sculptural qualities of her forms and emphasize the natural properties of her chosen materials. Enamored with antique Japanese paper, she has created a series of standing geometric postlike forms that suggest ancient totemic figures. (source).