Environmental Reflections: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation
Date: August 24, 2021 – December 5, 2021
Curated By: Billie Milam Weisman
Venue: Pepperdine University, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263
(310) 506-4851
https://arts.pepperdine.edu/museum/2021-2022/21-22-museum-environmental-reflections.htm
Exhibited Artists:
Peter Alexander, Oliver Arms, James Bachman, Radcliffe Bailey, David Bates, Kelly Berg, Veronica Brovall, Roger Brown, Fernanda Brunet, Alberto Carneiro, Mark Chariker, Chema Cobo, Dawn Dedeaux, Lesley Dill, Richard Ehrlich, Torben Giehler, Brandon Graving, Channing Hansen, Karen Heagle, Todd Hebert, Stephanus Heidacker, Wade Hoefer, David Jones, Gegam Kacherian, Mimi Lauter, Christopher Le Brun, Won JU Lim, Jen Liu, Srdjan Loncar, Andrew Piedilato, Thomas Rose, Christoph Schmidberger, Timothy Tompkins, Tyler Vlahovich, Christian Ward, Matt Wedel, Frederick S. Wight, and Dustin Yellin.
Environmental Reflections: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation
Throughout history, artists have attempted to capture the beauty in the forces of nature, each interpretation unique and distinctly different from the other. In Environmental Reflections: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, a diverse range of art practices come together to bring fleeting glimpses of nature through the human experience. Nature is constantly shifting and changing, sometimes in minuscule ways that are often overlooked, such as how the sky shifts with sunrise and sunset, or the way flowers and plants sway in the wind, and rotate in the direction of the sunlight. Then there are the grand changes due to natural and manmade disasters of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, droughts, or the depletion of natural resources. This exhibition brings a broad spectrum of approaches that reflect a reverence for nature and its complexities.
The artists in this exhibition explore the delicate beauty as well as the enormous power of the natural world. Dawn Dedeaux illuminates the unusual beauty of mold growing along with tree bark and the symmetry that occurs in nature. In contrast, Kelly Berg addresses nature's intensity and powerful forces in her depiction of erupting volcanoes illuminating the sky. Srdjan Loncar creates a massive sculptural wave consisting of photographic images of waves demonstrating the power and depth of the ocean that continually touches land wave after wave. The mysteries of the universe have captured the interest of artists throughout time: Chema Como imagines floating orbs in space, while Dawn Dedeaux depicts astronauts floating in the vacuum of space without control high above the earth.
There is a quiet reverence in the solitude of nature in the works by Scott Brennan and Stephanus Heidacker, each one capturing moments in which man is alone with nature. In Scott Brennan's work, the figure is dwarfed in scale compared to the landscape, demonstrating man's vulnerability, while in Stephanus Heidacker’s work a large imposing "young man" dominates the frame in a mountain landscape. Both of these works reflect the dueling concepts of the relationship between man and nature. Yet, in Veronica Brovall's sculpture, the intricate and delicate connection between humans and nature is visually sculpted when a skeletal figure in a fetal position acts as the roots of a barren tree, making them so intimately connected that there is no distinct separation between the two.
Nature and space are incredibly vast, and our relationship to them is unique and complex. Environmental Reflections: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, exemplifies how we continually explore the natural world, from the depths of the oceans to the farthest reaches of space, calling to mind how early humans would trek through the landscape yearning for knowledge of the unknown. Nature has the ability to reflect our humanity—there is beauty, destruction, depth, and vast expanses yet to be discovered.