SENSE OF PLACE
A group exhibition curated by Vita Eruhimovitz and Nicole Kutz
ON VIEW: Dec 4th – Dec 27th
Opening Reception: December 4th Friday 5pm - 10pm
Schedule a private viewing or visit the exhibition online at https://www.wonzimer.com/
Wönzimer Gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition of paintings and sculptures that address the human place within the natural world. Curated by Vita Eruhimovitz and Nicole Kutz, The gallery show features works by Michael Mancari, Etty Yaniv, Lee Piechocki, Megan Reed, Zach Storm, Vita Eruhimovitz and Nicole Kutz and is on view from December 4th through December 27th 2020.
“Nature” has always been a metaphor: the cultural symbol of the authentic, the wild, the unadulterated. However these notions are increasingly elusive today. Humans are migrating into a new habitat of screens, video chats, and social networks. Our daily experience feels disconnected from traditional notions of habitat -- flora, fauna, land -- yet many feel the looming threat of environmental collapse as they watch crises unfold on-screen. This dissonance is further amplified in a time of pandemic: reflecting on the past and contemplating the future, there is an increasing sense that the former metaphors about our place in the world no longer hold. The old paradigm of “nature” is dead and we find ourselves at a turning point beginning to redefine the relationship with the place that we inhabit.
Redefining nature, requires completely new modes of thought. It requires thoughts that we may not yet think or speak at all, or have the words to describe. The artworks in Sense of Place address the natural world, but they are far from being literal or didactic. They are associative, but not bound by representation, intuitive and grounded in material, layered both physically and metaphorically. They are beginnings of such thoughts - still not conveyable in words but already outlining a new place. In this place, the artist is no longer an observer but rather an active participant in the creative processes of a new nature in making.
The works in Sense of Place reflect these creative processes in myriad ways: portals that lead into the earth, into other geological timelines or into a memory of a place both ancient and contemporary. Marks feel as though they are left behind by a dance or battle, yet amidst the twisting lines and layers, one encounters a vaguely tranquil landscape. Paintings become lenses that zoom in or out, either expanding one’s perspective or focusing within a microcosm. Objects, symbols, and words are fragmented and shuffled, becoming archeological relics of the current moment and leaving future life-forms guessing what the human world was like.
Common to all artists in the show is an interest in timelines. Their processes are ways to contemplate the past, the present, and ultimately move towards the future with a renewed perspective and sense of place.
WONZIMER GALLERY 621 S. Olive Street Los Angeles CA 90014
