THE NATURAL OTHER curated by Ruth Tabancay
MARCH 31 – MAY 6, 2023
Artists Reception: Saturday, April 15, 4 – 6pm
Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: April 7 & May 5, 6 – 9 PM
In honor of Earth Day, April 22, Mercury 20 Gallery member Ruth Tabancay curated a show of artwork that fits into the premise, The Natural Other. The work in this show falls along a continuum with “What would happen without human intervention?” at one end and “With human intervention, what is the extent of disruption to a particular earth system and can we fix it?” at the other. Whether impacted or not, to what end will natural history evolve? The selected artists depict an intimate relationship with the earth through a variety of concepts.
Starting with no human intervention, Salma Arastu’s paintings portray the mycelial connections between trees. Amy Hibbs lets decaying material take its own course by layering compost over synthetic Yupo. Left for 6 – 8 weeks, the composting process leaves its mark on the paper. Made from modern detritus, Julia Feldman’s extinct birds are displayed as specimens, both inside and out. Feldman’s work asks us to consider, to what extent, our modern necessities lead to the elimination of wildlife. The final two artists attempt to return to what once was, through human intervention. For Linda Gass’ community-engaged art installation, she marked the original shoreline at Cooley Landing in East Palo Alto. The current boundaries are a result of the area being used as a dump site. Volunteers planted native Juncus patens, (California grey rush) along the original shoreline. Gass photo-documented its growth from 2017 to 2021. In Trying to Put It All Back Together, The Weight of the Stone Still in the Gold, Alicia Escott attempts to return metal to the rock from whence it came. Many stages of human intervention created the piece of jewelry: can that process be reversed?
Earth Day, first commemorated in 1970, has expanded to what is now being referred to as Earth Month. A colleague of Tabancay said, “It should be Earth Year,” a sentiment with which she firmly concurs. Attention to human impact on natural systems needs our awareness every day.
