“Seescape At George Adams Gallery, NY
George Adams Gallery’s summer show is Seescape, curated by Edward Boyer. Spanning almost a century and a half of painting, drawing and photography, the exhibition explores the evolution of maritime representation from the sublime to the political.
The artists included are: Dozier Bell, William Bradford, Vija Celmins, Lynn Davis, Pat de Groot, Chip Hooper, Chris Jordan, Lino Lago, Andrew Lenaghan, Pamela Longobardi, John Marin, Joel Meyerowitz, Fairfield Porter, Charles Seliger, William Trost Richards, Adam Straus, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Dan Torop and Worthington Whittredge.
“…The sea has also become a vehicle for political expression for artists such as Chris Jordan and Pamela Longobardi who address the polluting effects of global commerce, overpopulation, and climate change; in the 21st century, the sea as subject is less a metaphor of transcendental space than a very real place systematically being destroyed by human profligacy and waste…”
SEESCAPE will be on view from June 5 through August. Gallery hours in June are Tuesday through Saturday 10 – 6, Mondays by appointment. In July and August gallery hours are Tuesday – Friday 10 – 5. Please visit our website at www.georgeadamsgallery.com for additional information including exhibition checklist and images.
Review of show is on The Void Point: http://thevoidpoint.wordpress.com/
SEESCAPE: PAM LONGOBARDI AT GEORGE ADAMS GALLERY
It was last Thursday when I found myself, along with many others, in outerwear. I was wearing a windbreaker – layering. It was genuinely cold. The weather turned on us like a bad romance. Only days before, it was one hundred and one degrees. I had mild heat stroke. Can we please be honest about global warming?
I love landscapes and seascapes. Imagine my surprise when, on a whim, my group and I strolled into George Adams Gallery and found “Seescape,” a group show of marine art, curated by the gallery and Edward Boyer. Even the space itself has a slight nautical theme with its exposed wood beams. The exhibitions downtown have been embracing the tranquility of summer; Bertrand Delacroix, and Birnam Wood also have group shows of the same nature.
“Seescape” is really striking for the variety of work, which ranges from eighteenth century paintings to contemporary works. Some minimalist, some idyllic, others deconstructed, however, Longobardi’s photograph, “Sleeping Giant (Drifters),” really strikes a chord. If anything, Longobardi is one artist who wants to have an honest conversation about pollution and its effects on our climate. It’s really impressive to see art that’s capable of portraying something so disturbing in such an elegant manner. In fact, it’s actually playful. The colors are so appealing to the eye, they nearly bounce off the print, but look a little closer, and one realizes that it’s debris. Neither critical, nor sensational, the power of the photograph lies in its subtlety; it’s simply an observation of the garbage we leave behind. That sort of portrayal is truly sublime.
Longobardi has been a part of the discussion of water pollution for years with her ongoing Drifters Project. She has helped to clean numerous beaches around the world and removing that same plastic debris. Longobardi recycles (perhaps “downcycles” is a better term) the debris she finds for her unique installations for the Drifters project. The works are both a creative endeavor and a meditation on our toxic footprints.
It was a pleasure discovering her work in such a wonderful show (I’ve visited thrice already), and it’s a reminder of our reality since New York has transitioned through two seasons in the course of a week alone. And we now have a hurricane season for which to look forward, one that has eclipsed our autumns. Our planet has been trying to send us this message for a while – that our destructive habits are at our expense too.
http://www.pamlongobardi.com/ http://georgeadamsgallery.com/