EARTH THROUGH TIME
PROVIDENCE MOUNTAINS AND THE MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE
MARCH 29 - JUNE 30 2019
Embracing the dynamism of a changing landscape as viewed through “geologic time,” EARTH THROUGH TIME references 650 million years of transmutation in the Providence Mountains. Paintings feature environmental tropes that associate land changes with surface techniques that are additive and reductive. Paint and plaster applied and removed, above pages from Michel Digonnet’s book “Hiking the Mojave Desert”— oiled, burned and glued to wooden panels. Application of the material in mimics earth processes of deposition and erosion.
Strips of fabric hang from wall-mounted hands and from the ceiling, gracefully casting shadows as it draws from a space of sinister stalagmites and stalactites within the Mitchell Caverns. Hands gesture uplift of the land while grated sheet metal bisects the mountains, indicative of the intrusive bodies of hot granitic magma that once formed ore deposits of iron, gold, silver and lead. It is theseore deposits that are responsible for producing the most profitable mines in Eastern California. Other sculptural works include a wall installation of naturally occurring minerals cast in polymer gypsum; a set of hands holding silicone cast bird feathers in a piece that signifies the Mojavepeople as a people of Dreams; and the Miner’s Mask installation marks moments of time where greed, wealth and power drove people out west to reap precious bounty from the Earth.
Just as light influences the landscape and directly affects shape, color and dimension, the Plexiglas etchings explore similar illusions. They rely on a light source to provide dimensionality. Gestural drawings on Plexiglas, colored with India ink and hung from resin-coated cast hands mounted tothe wall. Animals, plants and the Mojave people are the subject of this collection of works.
All of the work in EARTH THROUGH TIME is for sale through Mojave National Preserve Artists Foundation and a portion of the proceeds supports MNPAF.
Desert Light Gallery
90942 Cima Road • Kelso, CA 92309 • mojaveair.org