As the Fall 2013 semester kicks off, the Contemporary Art Gallery is already in full swing preparing for the first art exhibit of the semester.
The Man and Nature Exhibition opened with a reception on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 4:30 p.m. and will be on display through Oct. 1.
According to Dale Newkirk, director of the Contemporary Art Gallery, this national exhibit explores man’s complex relationships with the natural world and will feature paintings, photography, sculpture, video art and installations.
“I noticed that there were several artists that were making artwork that could be centered around this idea,” said Newkirk. “The idea of man’s effect on nature is not the same as a show on environmental artwork. All of the art in the show is there for a reason that supports the overall affect of the exhibition.”
Artwork by six artists was selected by Newkirk through each artists’ website. The featured artists in the Man and Nature Exhibition are Blade Wynne, Jack Niven, Sarah Cusimano Miles, Raina Benoit, Siobhan McBride and Courtney Egan.
Several of the artists noted their use of different art techniques to draw attention to the subject matter and make viewers see a bigger picture.
“For this exhibition, I want to explore the complexity of the south by depicting indigenous flowers often found in the marsh areas combined with the oil industry,” said Benoit. “The two are dominant cohabitants that share the waterways and define the region.”
For the exhibit, Benoit created a body of work entitled “The Zen of Flowers and Refineries,” which is a continuous study of the relationships between the land, the human body and the ocean.
“My art practice is largely about place and creating meaning,” said Benoit. “Site-specificity is a huge component, not constrained only to the physical exhibition space but reaching beyond the walls in hopes to create dialog with the local viewers. Inspired by Art Deco, pattern and the Louisiana landscape, ‘The Zen of Flowers & Refineries’ is a body of work created for southern Louisiana, but about the interconnection between things.”
Wynne’s work in the exhibition is a collage made of acrylic and tape on paper, which Wynne considers deceptively simple, somewhat clumsy and chaotic but also skillfully executed. The four pieces in the Man and Nature Exhibition, “Spring Grove,” “Dying Shrub,” “Peeling Bark” and “Stump,” were created in 2010.
“My recent paintings depict rural environments and commonplace objects that arise out of observation, invention and memory,” said Wynne. “I see my work as being in a dialogue with American Regionalism and its preoccupation with authenticity, home and spirituality. Touching on themes of impermanence and alienation, my subjects occupy the ambiguous terrain between what is nature and what is human. These scenes are created with a sense of urgency and spontaneity, although this boldness is often tempered with an intentional rigidity and emotional reticence.”
Egan’s two pieces of art for the exhibition were created using digital compositing, the tool of contemporary special effects, to create loop-based video installations.
“‘Repercussions (Yellow Trumpet)’ creates an unexpected resonance between a flower and a speaker from which we hear an illusory drip land,” said Egan. “‘Soft Spots’ was created with digital stills of a Japanese magnolia flower, a common ornamental in New Orleans. In the looping projected image, petals drop from a continually dying and re-blossoming flower. During a petal’s fall to the ground, a projectile, apparently targeting the petal, misses and sends the petal spinning or flipping, until it gently lands on the floor below. ‘Soft Spots’ reflects on forces that guide and influence lives.”
In addition, Miles has contributed artwork from her “Solomon’s House” collection for the Man and Nature Exhibition. Niven and McBride have also submitted work from their collections that embodies Newkirk’s overall theme for the exhibition.  
For additional information on the artists, visit their respective websites to view some of their work, their mission statements or further contact information.