End(s) of the Earth

May 5 – 28, 2022

End(s) of the Earth by artist Nick Riesland features vivid yet harmonious abstractions, inspired by memories and sketches of aerial landscapes viewed across years of extensive world travel- often in small aircraft. This exhibition is also described as, in Riesland’s words: “geo-calligraphy”.

Riesland writes:

“There are three parts to the concepts behind this collection of paintings. First, for much of my past professional life, I was lucky to have been able to travel extensively around the globe on various aircraft. While observing that most passengers prefer to pull down the window shades and burrow into their screens, I never tired of gazing upon the aerial landscapes that unfolded below. The more remote regions, the “ends of the earth,” are the most captivating to me, whether in the sky or on the ground, even if forbidding and ominous. Peering down upon the contours of our planet is the aesthetic inspiration behind this collection of works.

Second, in addition to the sublime beauty of aerial landscapes, there is a calligraphy, a “handwriting”, bearing a prophetic message inscribed across our habitat’s surface that, when sensed, is as disturbing as it is enchanting. Perhaps the full impact of heedless human activity is beginning to dawn on us. I’ve named these paintings after world cities to suggest what the landscapes that they inhabit might begin to look like a century from now. “Geo-calligraphy” meets “Geo-graffiti.” Nature’s inscriptions meet Humanity’s scars upon the land.

Finally, from my medical background, these images bring to mind how human anatomy looks from the inside. There is a resonance. The surgeon routinely works with similar looking spatial configurations of shapes and colors, as does the murderer or the combatant or the pathologist who performs autopsies. Even the butcher. So, in the parentheses of each title I’ve placed some medical terms referencing human anatomy that come to mind for these geologic contours. The structures of lipid, bone and muscle, the distribution of pigment, the lattice array of blood vessels and nerves, speak to me of a kinship, a oneness between our bodily lives and the planet which has given us birth and sustains us. To know and to incorporate this knowledge into our behavior toward that which gives us life may be our only hope of ultimate survival.”

“End(s) of the Earth” will be on display at Gallery 110 from May 5 – 28. The gallery is open to the public from 12PM to 5PM on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and by appointment (director@gallery110.com). Or stop by during the Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk on May 5 from 4-8PM.

 

 

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About gallery110

Gallery 110’s mission is to provide dynamic opportunities to established and emerging professional artists in an environment that encourages creative expression, experimentation, and collaboration. As a nonprofit organization, the gallery fosters artistic and professional connections between its associated artists and the arts community at large through creative dialogue, the presentation of challenging and enriching curated exhibitions, public opportunities, and collaborative projects.