Two exceptional exhibitions, both closed earlier this summer, offered revealing looks at personal landscapes.
Lori Markman‘s Magical Landscapes at the Sasse Museum of Art in Pomona, Calif. closed in mid-August, but certainly you’ll see more of her vistas again. Her mixed media collage, inspired by Japanese landscape art created beautifully crafted, unique scenes that defied expectations. Works such as “Moon, Stars, Mountains, Water in Blue,” shown above, created a vision of deep perspective, a slice of earth and sea. Similarly, her “The Reflection of Fuji” dances on the horizon and against the mysterious surface of the water below.
Some works are purely peaceful, such as “Overlooking the Lake in White;” others convey a vast sense of movement and color, yet anchored in place by her use of minute text.
Drawing viewers into her intricate detail, as she does with “River of Roses at Cherry Blossom Time,” Markman makes each separate image within each work precise and graceful, creating a splendid, peaceful riff on traditional Japanese art, whether inspired by photographs or classic drawings.
The layered composition of her art adds to the sense of calm and rest. Taking so much care and shaping such delicate work evokes a sense of peace that no external chaos or challenges can shatter.
Back in May, the summer began with the radiant works below.
Dis Connection, curated by artist Elana Kundell, offered a similarly beautiful and heart opening exhibition at Studio Channel Islands located in Camarillo. The group show featured eight female artists each exploring the human need for home and connection as well as the wound of forced displacement. Like Markman, each of these bountifully talented artists offered layered works packed with meaning and rife for reflection and meditation. Many of the works are abstract, leaving room for interpreting what is intimately personal to each artist equally so for each viewer as well.
Exhibiting artists included that of performance artist Maria Adela Diaz, the rich large-scale oil and mixed media painting of Fatameh Burnes, towering sculptural work from Alicia Piller, immersive, world-building clay art from Janet Neuwalder, and lush mixed media works involving varied material, including emotionally deep painted images, from Nurit Avesar. Marthe Aponte‘s unique, delicate wall sculptures shape protective shields, while Sigrid Orlet‘s varied media work is powerful, evoking strength and wisdom. The layered instalaltions of Arezoo Bharthania use gauzy material that floats with color and light.
Neuwalder’s vast expanse of clay shapes (above) blossom with supple, subtle color.
Aponte’s beaded shields feel both entirely of the moment and eternally protective.
Avesar’s use of vivid color and texture evokes a visceral response.
Diaz takes us to the sea and paints her body the color of its foam.
Each artist shapes an immersive and lush world that bears intimate consideration and creates enormous pleasure from seeing these powerful, wild, pristine images. Kundell’s curation is perfect, drawing viewers into an exhibition in which one piece builds upon or converses with the next until the viewer also feels spoken to.
Above, Fatameh Burnes “Fools Paradise”; below “Remberance” from Janet Neuwalder.
If you missed either Kundell’s lovingly curated Dis Connection or Markman’s Magical Landscapes, remember their beauty, and look for each of these artists to share their profoundly wise and heartfelt visions with you again, soon. Their landscapes – internal and external, spiritual and passionate, each map new and resonating territory.
- Genie Davis; photos provided by the artists and galleries