“All Four Seasons in Equal Measure” curated by Monique Long
….for my privacy, no house is visible from any place, but the hill-tops within a half a mile of my own. I have my own horizon, bounded by woods all to myself, a distant view of the railroad where it touches the pond on one hand and of the woodland road on the other, but for the most part, it is solitary where I live…
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
In 2023 I was invited by the Great Meadows Foundation to be a critic-in-residence in Louisville, Kentucky where the nonprofit is headquartered. I was asked to meet with artists in the region and conduct studio visits during my time there. Intrigued by the opportunity to work outside of New York City, the town where I had devoted my entire career, and embed myself temporarily in another arts community relatively far away, I said yes.
For two months I found myself living in a two-bedroom modern midcentury house surrounded by woods in New Albany, Indiana, a suburb just fifteen minutes from downtown Louisville with nothing to do except learn as much as I could about the local art scene and abide with the artists I was tasked to meet. Post quarantine, what would it mean to be extracted from central Harlem, a densely populated neighborhood in Manhattan where I normally reside to live and work in a completely different environment? How would it change my eye?
All Four Seasons in Equal Measure is a reflection upon just one aspect of my perceptions: how nature and concern for the environment features prominently among contemporary artists in the area. The exhibition brings together artists whose works highlight their intimate relationship with place and the natural world. Their creative output explores the beauty of the environment and its precarities through works on paper, photography, sculpture, video, and installation.
ARTISTS
Britany Baker
Kiah Celeste
Shohei Katayama
Gibbs Rounavall
Rachel Singel
Roy Taylor
