Environmental Impact: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation

Zigi Ben-Haim, Nighttouch (1984); Srdjan Loncar, Wave (2009); Thomas Rose, Out of the Garden (1989); Andrew Piedilato, Whirlpool (2011)

Andrew Piedilato, Submarine Surfacing (2010); Daniel Dove, Eye of Providence (2007)

Jen Liu, Brethren of the Stone: Paul’s Vision (Three Worlds Under a Mushroom Cloud Sky) (2006); Mi Ju, Full Moon (2009); Srdjan Loncar, Mountain (2006)

Andy Goldsworthy, Earth and Snow from Silverlake to Jackson (1993); James Bachman, The Portage (1985); Veronica Brovall, Wurzel-Füllung II (2007); Joe Goode, Commissioned Work (3 Panels)[Tan] (1979)

Edward Ruscha, Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska (1980); Won Ju Lim, Untitled (Hawaii No. 2)(2006); Charles Arnoldi, Impound (1985); Matt Wedel, flower tree (2009); Joe Goode, Forest Fire No. 77 (1983); Dustin Yellin, Tobelas (2007)

Gina Phillips, Tree No. 2 (2010); Daniel Dove, Sequel (2008); Jen Liu, Brethren of the Stone: Paul’s Vision (Three Worlds Under a Mushroom Cloud Sky) (2006); Mi Ju, Full Moon (2009); Srdjan Loncar, Mountain (2006)

Date:  August 26, 2014 – November 30, 2014

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://seaver.pepperdine.edu/newsroom/articles/frederick-r-weisman-museum-art-displays-environmental-impact-selections-frederick-r.htm

Exhibited Artists:
Lita Albuquerque, Peter Alexander, Charles Arnoldi, Radcliffe Bailey, Zigi Ben-Haim, Veronica Brovall, Vija Clemins, Louisa Chase, Dawn Dedeaux, Daniel Dove, Andy Goldsworthy, Joe Goode, Jia, Gegam Kacherian, Won JU Lim, Jen Liu, Srdjan Loncar, Mi Ju, Andy Moses, Gina Phillips, Andrew Piedilato, Linda Ridgway, Thomas Rose, Edward Ruscha, Charles Simonds, Ryozo Tsumaki, Matt Wedel, Neil Welliver, Frederick S. Wight, and Dustin Yellin.

Environmental Impact: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation

Artists have grappled with the forces of nature from the time of the earliest cave paintings to the present. Today, our environment is strongly impacted by the Earth's relentlessly evolving weather conditions, such as  tornadoes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, severe winds, rains, etc. Man has also added to the list of stimuli which has significantly affected the quality of the human environment with industrial pollution, manufacturing, automobile and airplane exhaust, plastics, paints, etc. In Environmental Impact: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, curator Billie Milam Weisman is showing various examples of how artists have reproduced, commented and critiqued our ever-changing environment, whether the result of nature's forces or man's interventions. The exhibition brings together different approaches to the subject—both formal and conceptual—including commentary on pollution and natural disasters, and observing and altering the environment.

For those artists coming to terms with their environment by observing and recreating it, abstraction and fantasy are some of the strategies used. Charles Arnoldi uses found branches to provide an artistic interpretation of the after-effects of a  volcano which sent a mud slide of timber cascading down a mountainside in wild disarray. Andrew Piedilato suggests a similar logjam by way of significantly abstracted forms in painting. Jen Liu pushes the conception of nature in the direction of fantasy environments, creating a dreamlike otherworldly place rooted in an imagined future or past. Srdjan Loncar obsessively endeavors to capture a giant wave from every possible viewpoint with a multitude of photographs, while Gegam Kacherian paints a tiny picture of the myth of the most dangerous wave in seafaring history.

Some artists take a conceptual approach to bridge the gap between man and nature, or comment on pollution or natural disasters. Ed Ruscha stamps Man's presence on awe-inspiring landscapes by overlaying language directly onto the surface of his paintings. Along with Ruscha, Charles Simonds, uses aerial perspective to map out Man's presence through architectural structures or roads. Artists such as Joe Goode and Peter Alexander use the drama of painting to convey the stunning force of a forest fire or ominous night storm. Veronica Brovall depicts the human figure as the root of a tree to show the reciprocal effect the degradation of the environment has on Man.

Nothing stays the same—whether it is Nature causing the change or Man.  Artists historically and in the future will continue to be influenced by the impact of and on our environment and each will interpret it in a different manner. Their works provide contemporary perspectives on the incessant transformations of the Earth, both natural and man-made.