37 North 15th Street

Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11222

(corner of Gem Street, entrance Gem Street)

June 5th-27th

Opening reception from 3-6pm on June 5th.

Saturday and Sundays, 12 - 6pm and by appointment: 347-804-7228

Nature Diaries: Erika Harrsch, Cristian Pietrapiana,

Curated by Joshua Rosenblatt

the gallery LTD founded by William Norton and made possible with the help of Patrick Hayne.

Erika Harrsch, Cave 2012, 40” x 55”

Cristián Pietrapiana,Pipeline Halt, 2021, 23” x 23”

Laura Von Rosk, The Fence, 2020, 8” x 8” oil on canvas

acrylic, pencil, ink, collage on paper acrylic paint on paper

In Nature Diaries, three artists approach the conflict between human nature and the natural world. As they consider complex contemporary issues, such as illegal fishing, fossil fuels, big agra, forest depletion, melting polar caps, climate change, international currencies, migration, and war--their works remain personal and intimate. Capturing their observations/ideas in diverse mediums and styles, each artist presents a vision of a human-nature relationship in flux.

Erika Harrsch looks at the complex ways in which nature and humans come into an unbalanced interconnection, using direct references to the exploitation of ecosystems and abrasive land transformations as well as symbolic images. Her butterflies are constructed of currency, while her jellyfish echo forms of the war apparatus--parachuting soldiers floating to earth. Erika’s perspective on nature seems to question how we exist with the nature surrounding us. This fierce confrontation is rendered with a delicate line, both sensuously absorbing and jarring at the same time.

Cristián Pietrapiana’s newsfeed frames his approach to nature. His art illustrates his process of making sense of an overload of disperse information. He squares up an image/idea thusly: climate change advances, framed by his diary responses. With each environmental crisis, Pietrapiana creates a portrait offering the viewer a fresh way to interpret the story of the day. Pietrapiana's images are woven together with narrative structures, including collaged pieces of newsprint and photographs, each addressing the abuse humans casually inflict on nature.

Laura Von Rosk’s works build upon repeated forms; like reading a hieroglyph, every piece, a word or a sentence. Once strung together, the story produced is complex and unexpected; a story of nature in slow reveal, confined into controlled shapes. An image that at first glance appears peaceful, fills with tension. Emergent patterns once hidden, then dominate. Laura’s manipulated images of nature play on the balance of what nature is and how the mind bends it.