Bent + Iverson at 516 ARTS

August 29, 2015

Gala Bent and Mary Iverson are currently exhibiting at 516 ARTS in Albuquerque.

August 29 – October 31, 2015
Knew Normal
Off the Charts

Exhibitions for HABITAT: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts

Gala Bent, The New City (detail), 2009

Gala Bent, The New City (detail), 2009

Knew Normal presents a selection of recent works from established and emerging contemporary artists who use paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture and wearable art to bear witness to the moments when environments, including the body, become more difficult or awkward to inhabit for reasons generally attributed to climate change. The artists in Knew Normal depict universally familiar themes of loss and uncertainty, tempered with unmistakable empathy and, at times, hope and humor. Each artwork in the exhibition tells a story about how our physical and psychological environments are shaped by current climates, whether social, political or environmental. Several of the artists also look to the future, as characters of the existing universe are drastically altered or disappear altogether. Knew Normal recognizes the age old tradition (or compulsion) of art making as a strategy for understanding complex circumstances and emotions. As we come to terms with our “new normal,” and as we brace for the near and distant future, what will we learn from what once was and how might we affect what will be? The exhibition is guest curated by Nancy Zastudil.

Off the Charts examines the visual language artists use to document, process, map and manipulate a better understanding of the ever-evolving world we inhabit. Not only do we render territorial borders imposed on geography, or the network of nerves and arterial highways in the living body, we have devised ways of depicting the most elusive phenomena and abstract concepts, such as time or human consciousness. With the help of increasingly sophisticated instruments to aid our imagination, we can now see and describe a myriad of processes once thought invisible or incomprehensible, revealing worlds we never knew existed. This desire for organization of thoughts, places and events reveal countless layers of meaning through the often-interconnected fabric of social, political, economic and environmental causation. This exhibition is curated by Rhiannon Mercer and Claude Smith of 516 ARTS.

516 ARTS is an independent, nonprofit contemporary arts organization, which operates a museum-style gallery in Downtown Albuquerque and presents exhibitions, public programming and educational activities.