New American Landscape
27/02/2003 - 29/03/2003
Conner Contemporary Art
1730 Connecticut Ave., NW – 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20009
t : 202-588-8750
info@connercontemporary.com
http://connercontemporary.com
Mary Woodall – photographs + John Kirchner – video
Image: Mary Woodall – element 2, 2002, lambda digital print, 45 x 30, edition: 7
Conner Contemporary Art proudly presents “New American Landscape” an
inspired exhibition of recent works by Washington-based artists Mary
Woodall and John Kirchner. This show is devoted to the legacy of the
landscape genre as a wellspring of originality in the history of art in
America and Washington, D.C.
We are pleased to introduce Mary Woodall, a young artist whose
exceptional ability emerges in her photographic series: element (2002).
Woodall’s uncompromising minimalist style is evident in the cool splendor of these
large-scale color photographs. The artist demonstrates how our vision of
the natural world is mediated by manufactured barriers and explores
distortions which arise where the natural and manufactured worlds meet.
She explains:
Pools of water on my sunroof blur images of clouds and trees
and abstract their forms. The screen in my bedroom window
imposes a geometric grid on the landscape outside. Droplets of
water caught in its weave function like small lenses, reflecting
inverted images of sky and earth, seemingly turning the natural
order upside-down.
While Woodall creates a new pictorial microcosm, conceptual artist John
Kirchner constructs a haunting pastoral nocturne in his video Deer
Hunting in Virginia (2002). In hand-shot footage of his dogs pursuing a stag
by moonlight, Kirchner captures the awe of the sublime with ominously
alluring imagery which evokes the thrill of the chase and the pleasure
of looking. Choreographed to an audio track of Bach’s Goldberg variations,
his painterly scenes stir the passions as well as the senses. Kirchner’s
video stills are also presented in the current show, which marks his
third exhibition at the gallery. The work of this accomplished artist has been
featured at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will be
exhibited in an upcoming show at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah,
New York.
There will be a reception for the artists Saturday, March 1, 6-8pm.
