Transgressing Lands
Eleven Contemporary Artists Reimagine a Horizon
June 20 - July 9, 2024
Reclaiming the horizon and re-establishing it as a mode of orientation and possibility, these artists explore the potential of examining our natural surroundings, allowing us to both to locate ourselves within specificities of finite time and place as well as reveal entry points into infinitude. The title of the exhibition operates through multiple layers of the terms transgressing and horizon in an effort to subvert traditional notions packed into landscape such as linearity, individual perspective, and consumption.
The term landscape derives from the Dutch word landschap translating to land + -schap (ship); Merriam-Webster documents 1598 as the year the term was first used. As 2024 marks the 400 year anniversary of Dutch colonization of Manhattan, the works in this show both reflect on the fraught history of the picturesque and sublime and rethink the notion of the horizon as a point of present contact, a point of meeting, moments of transgression which emphasize the ephemeral fluidity inherent within the land, the sea, and the horizon. Transgressing Lands brings together artists working with coded concepts of sight and site packaged into quotidian notions of pictorial landscape and reorienting them into portraits of alternate realities. The works in this exhibition form a community of dialogues that consider our relationship to our surrounding environment and each other.
Each artist presents their own stakes including the role of memory and collectivity in containing vanished landscapes; the new terrifying sublime of disaster brought about by escalating climate change, displacement, and warfare; explorations of mindfulness, presence, and care manifested through close and attentive looking; revisions of colonial narratives; and aspects of entropy and renewal inherent within all existence.
About the Artists
Jeannine Bardo is a Brooklyn-based artist, curator, and educator, and the founder and artistic director of Stand4 Gallery and Community Art Center. Her multidisciplinary practice explores humanity's relationship with the natural world through community-based projects, public art, and education.
Nancy Cohen creates sculptural installations that examine resilience, the environment, and the human body. Her work is held in major museum collections, and she has received numerous fellowships, residencies, and awards throughout her career.
Cristina de Gennaro is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States. A recipient of numerous grants and residencies, she earned her MFA from Stanford University and currently teaches at William Paterson University and New Jersey City University.
Deborah Jack is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores colonial histories, cultural memory, ecology, and climate change through video, photography, painting, sound, and text. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Brooklyn Museum and SITE Santa Fe Biennial.
Natalie Moore is a Brooklyn-based sculptor and installation artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is Assistant Chair of the Foundation Program at Pratt Institute, where she has taught for many years.
Itty Neuhaus is a multidisciplinary artist whose work investigates environmental change and ecology. A professor at SUNY New Paltz, she is a two-time Fulbright Fellow and has participated in numerous international residencies.
Nazanin Noroozi is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores memory and displacement through moving image, printmaking, and alternative photography. She has exhibited internationally and is a recipient of fellowships from NYFA, Dieu Donné, and other leading arts organizations.
Lina Puerta creates mixed-media sculptures and installations exploring nature, food justice, hyper-consumerism, and ancestral knowledge. Her work has been widely exhibited, and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including a NYFA Fellowship and Joan Mitchell Grant.
Corinne Teed is a research-based artist working across printmaking, book arts, time-based media, and social practice. Their work explores ecology, queer theory, and community engagement through collaborative artistic practice.
Elizabeth Velazquez creates immersive mixed-media installations centered on ritual, spirituality, and transformation. She is a founding member of SEQAA and a recipient of the apexart International Fellowship.
Letha Wilson creates sculptural works that combine photography and landscape. Her work has been exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at GRIMM and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, and group exhibitions at institutions including MASS MoCA and the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
Curated by A.E. Chapman