Natural World: Group Exhibition

Gallery Henoch is pleased to present Natural World, a group exhibition with 12 artists who utilize nature as both motif and muse in their painting process.  Subjects ranging from landscapes and seascapes to still life and wildlife offer the inspiration to create and communicate ideas on beauty, time, relationships, conservation, and transformation.  An opening reception for the artists will be held Thursday, October 12^th from 6-8 PM.  The event is free and open to the public.

Nature, and more specifically animal life, was the first subject represented in the visual arts, as early as 45,500 years ago, archaeologists believe.  With depictions ranging from literal to abstract, the natural world mesmerizes by its complex existence: a balancing act of frailty and resilience, frequently acting as metaphor for the human experience.  Landscapes and seascapes showcase nature’s beauty while offering a sense of place.  Plants and produce can be elevated within the artificial stage of a still life to offer focused study in a humanized context.  Even the ephemerality of light, air, and absence are a stimulus for artists to re-interpret their surroundings.

Patricia Traub’s animal paintings are made both in celebration of her subjects’ beauty and instinctual nature, as well as a call for preservation of endangered species and empathy among all living things.

Richard Combes’ and Sunghee Jang’s exacting and exaggerated perspectives accentuate the vantage points from which they set their subjects’ focus.  By starting low to the ground or facing an alternative direction, Combes can draw attention to the unsung natural elements that provide a framework for life in New York City.  Whereas Jang takes to task the portrayal of the ethereal character of air and light by showcasing shadow and reflection in otherwise common architectural spaces.

In John Evans’ paintings, his signature seascapes and botanical gardens are distilled down to color and form, presented as gestural summations of sites the artist has visited repeatedly over many years.  Also depicting familiar yet ambiguous environments, Gary Ruddell’s allegorical landscapes offer a world where his isolated figures can connect to nature and each other.

Eric Zener is drawn to the sense of refuge, renewal, and transformation the natural world offers.  Through forested landscapes or deep ocean waters, Zener connects an ephemeral quality of this realm to forces greater than ourselves.

Lisa Lebofsky travels extensively to discover her water subjects.  By painting plein-air, on site, she can imbue a visceral sense of place into crashing waves or calm seas.  Anita Mazzucca finds inspiration closer to home.  The New Jersey artist painstakingly details lush trees and shrubbery alongside manicured lawns and country roads, balancing traces of humanity within the natural environs of her region.

For their still life paintings, both Janet Rickus and Eric Wert handpick fruits or vegetables particularly evocative in their shape and color.  Rickus positions her produce with carefully selected pottery, conjuring up a connection of their symbolic relationships and the people who utilize them.  Wert sets his garden grown subjects in the spotlight with hyper-realistic precision.  He further elevates his still lives by adding water droplets, inverted reflections, and highly patterned backgrounds as an almost supernatural depiction of his humble subjects.

Annette Davidek creates often ambiguous shapes that reference life forms ranging from exotic plants and fungi to microscopic organisms.  Thin paint layers with repetitive patterns and ghosted imagery outlined with sharp pops of color combine to suggest an otherworldly side of natural phenomenon.

Susan Goldsmith’s passion for flora and fauna are highlighted through her use of mixed media.  She combines paint, precious metals, photography, and resin to emphasize the radiance in the minutiae of the natural world.