Nature: Forged, Framed and Painted
By Ivan Gale
Nature: Forged, Framed and Painted
[in] organic is the maiden showing for the Saragris Gallery, whose Lower East Side space was transformed from a hair salon to a boutique art gallery in October. Curator Patricia Cazorla blends together the works of three international artists based in New York who use vastly different mediums into an eclectic, harmonious exhibition: Venezuelan sculptor Leonor Mendoza, Italian painter Serena Depero, and Japanese mixed media artist Masaki Takizawa.
True to the show’s name, all three artists enshrine the natural world in their work, integrating man-made objects and items in varying degrees. Mendoza’s functional works of side tables, coffee tables and hanging sculptures often reveal flowers wrought in steel; and yet, in many of these works, he is able to capture an ephemeral moment, such as lights shining through a colorful translucent resin. Mendoza’s work shows her gift for carpentry, as with her stately mahogany coffee table bearing her familiar steelwork with glass. The most whimsical piece, a peewee sculpture called The Seed, has a plug-in light and sits on the floor.
Depero’s acrylic on canvas and burlap pieces at times betrays her previous work as a medical researcher; though the artist disavows any connection to natural forms it’s not hard to imagine red blood cells merrily wending their way down the bloodstream in Thoughts and Actions. In other works, coffee beans and other nutty forms spring to mind. The artist testifies to an affinity for layers of color, though in some works the empty space of textured brown burlap stands out, punctuated by bursts of colorful [in] organic shapes.
Takizawa, whose delicate Shoji screen window pieces pay homage to Japanese architecture, allows viewers a hands-on experience when opening the delicate screens to reveal a floral surprise inside. The flowery renditions on glass blur the boundaries between the natural environment outside and the domestic interior within. The artist’s framed and contained works, made simply with glass, rice paper, and wood, mirror modern society’s own barriers to enjoying nature.
SARAGRIS, located at 143 Ludlow St., will run [in] organic from Oct. 21 to Nov. 17. Those wanting further information can contact Julia Brown at jbrown@saragris.com.
