Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Gallery Watch: 'Nature Morte' at the Hole

Text and photos by Clare Gemima  
Nature Morte
The Hole312 Bowery 

The line to get into Nature Morte on the night of the opening honestly stretched so far beyond the Bowery that it had no visible end at all!

The Hole’s yearly group show packed in 60 visual artists working across painting, sculpture, neon, photography, works on paper and ceramics. 

The entire gallery is now a transformed concrete wilderness, sporting grey shades and foliage from ground to ceiling, framing each work in its own unique environment. 

Depicting disease, darkness and death, Nature Morte showcases the artist’s response to the chaos of the climate change crises using taxidermy, abjectness and deceptive seduction. 

The 21st century’s take on the death of the natural world circulates around a constantly growing collection of symbols such as cigarette butts, grease stains, balloons, animal repurposing/consumption and plastic. Compare this to a broad 17th-century critique and the gradual devastation, or our inhabitants' negligence, is a little bit too hard to bear (luckily matcha gin cocktails were being served).

You can find a list of all the artists in the show at the Hole's website.

Nature Morte will be running until May 9 at the Hole, 312 Bowery near First Street. Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12-7 p.m., and by appointment.

 

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Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com 

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