In Celebration of the Natual World
ONLINE VIEWING ROOM
In celebration of the natural world
An online exhibition dedicated to Earth Day featuring works by Squeak Carnwath, James Clar, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Dan Perjovschi, and Elizabeth Schwaiger
James Clar, Methane Waves (Titus), 2019, LED Panel, Wave Render Simulation, Dichroic Filter, 24 x 76 x 15 inches.
During this particularly challenging time, the spread of COVID-19 is redefining the way we occupy and navigate our surrounding environment. It has caused us to re-evaluate our preparative measures for disaster, and in parallel, has sparked greater discussion around how to curb our impact on global warming, a slower pandemic with even higher stakes, to improve our planet for generations to come. Stay-at-home orders have led to the closure of national parks, beaches, waterways and spaces of open-air communion, which unsurprisingly have given environments the opportunity to heal. Global air pollution has fallen and waters are running clear in cities from Beijing to Venice, Los Angeles to Bangalore and in many parts of the world, wild animals are taking back what was once theirs. Looking beyond these positive effects, lockdowns alone won’t save the world from warming. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, we have a chance to not only spread awareness of the planet’s cries for help, but to develop and secure plans for a better future.
With this in mind, Jane Lombard Gallery is pleased to introduce our Earth Day viewing room, In Celebration of the Natural World, paying homage to the global movement for climate action. Featuring work by Squeak Carnwath, James Clar, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Dan Perjovschi and Elizabeth Schwaiger, the exhibition showcases artwork made both in celebration of the natural world and in response to its need for preservation.
The artworks presented within In Celebration of the Natural World purposely resist fixed narratives of a climate unaffected by or adapted to human occupancy. Acting as a conversational junction, the exhibition creates threads between the symbolic, the abstract and the veridical to provoke larger discussions around environmental awareness and preservation. To foster education and innovation in the areas of climate change, the gallery has decided to donate a percentage of sales to Ocean Conservancy, an environmental charity working to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges.
SQUEAK CARNWATH
Squeak Carnwath’s works on paper, Go to the Sea and How Many Greens, produced during her residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, utilize her vocabulary of abstract and representational images coupled with patchworked textual narratives reflecting on the surrounding coastal landscapes in Ballycastle, Ireland. Carnwath’s painting Message in a Bottle explores the current American socio-political environment, expressing her hopes and aspirations for the future of the country.
Go to the Sea
2018
Gouache and graphite on polypropylene
29.3 x 29.3 inches
How Many Greens
2018
Gouache and graphite on polypropylene
26.5 x 29.2 inches
Message in a Bottle
2018
Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel
30 x 30 inches
The Center of the Beautiful World
2017
Oil on alkyd
77 x 77 inches
Lucy + Jorge Orta
Lucy + Jorge Orta’s selection from the Amazonia series is an evolving commentary on the need to conserve forests and wildlife worldwide, aiming to communicate an understanding of the value of the natural world, and the cost of environmental loss through viewer and collector-based participation. Each work in the Amazonia series comes with a Certificate of Moral Ownership, which corresponds to a one-meter square plot of land in the Amazon Rainforest. Through the purchase of individual artworks, the collectors are bound to “morally” owning a plot of land, and to its safeguard as laid out in the corresponding certificate.
Amazonia — Vitrine
2010
Steel structure, copper tube, tap, laminated Lambda photograph, 4 OrtaWater bottles, float, 2 flasks, 2 aluminum cups, certificate of Moral Ownership
17.71 x 35 x 9.4 inches
Perpetual Amazonia Florae | S12 48 21.6 W71 24 17.6
2012
Various fabrics, glass beads, linen, certificate of Moral Ownership
Box framed, 20.8 x 20.8 x 3.1 inches
Amazonia Drop Parachute
2014
Archival pigment print, certificate of Moral Ownership. Edition of 10 numbered and signed by the artists. 3AP
21.2 x 14.9 inches
Amazonia Life Line
2014
Archival pigment print, certificate of Moral Ownership. Edition of 10 numbered and signed by the artists. 3AP
21.2 x 14.9 inches
Dan Perjovschi
The drawing series, No Plan, by Dan Perjovschi, incorporates wit, wordplay and illustration to conduct a humorous and sharp critique of the international response (or lack there-of) to the climate crisis. Originally commissioned by Garage, Moscow, for their groundbreaking exhibition, The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100.
No Plan (No Planet)
2019
Ink on paper
8.3 x 11.7 inches (A4)
No Plan (Eco)
2019
Ink on paper
8.3 x 11.7 inches (A4)
No Plan (The Coming World)
2019
Ink on paper
8.3 x 11.7 inches (A4)
No Plan (Human Nature)
2019
Ink on paper
8.3 x 11.7 inches (A4)
James Clar
James Clar’s featured works employ the power of LED and neon illumination, transfiguring the existentially ominous into the visually striking, and the invisible into the tangible. Methane Waves (Titus) and The New Normal, for instance, present as oculi into the realm of fantastical climate dystopia, or perhaps windows through the veil of visually present environmental effect.
100% Humidity
2019
Resin, LED neon, metal, artificial birds and leaves
40 x 40 x 8 inches
Methane Waves (Titus)
2019
LED Panel, Wave Render Simulation, Dichroic Filter
24 x 76 x 15 inches
Twilight Rain
2019
Resin, CCFL, Acrylic, Metal
48 x 29 x 6 inches
The New Normal
2019
LED Panel, Looped Video
15.5 x 15.5 x 3.5 inches
ELIZABETH SCHWAIGER
A selection of paintings by Elizabeth Schwaiger explores the confluence of luxury and disaster. Juxtaposing lush interior spaces with pensive floodwaters, the paintings draw inspiration from Schwaiger’s time at the Rauschenberg Residency on Captiva Island in Florida, a landscape that is falling victim to rising sea levels.
Captiva
2019
Oil, acrylic, ink, and watercolor on canvas
47 x 39 inches
Flooded Springs
2019
Oil, acrylic, ink on canvas
39 x 48 inches
Up To Their Elbows
2018
Oil, acrylic, ink, pastel on canvas
27 x 32 inches
Darkening Séance
2019
Oil, acrylic, ink, watercolor on canvas
21 x 24 inches
Blue Tide
2019
Oil, acrylic, ink, and watercolor on canvas
41 x 58 inches