Opening reception for "Diversions" at Institute Library Sat., June 29

The Institute Library
847 Chapel St., New Haven, (203) 562-5045
Diversions
Jun. 29—Jul. 27, 2013.
Reception: Sat., Jun. 29, Noon—2 p.m.

Press release from Stephen Vincent Kobasa

Diversions, an exhibition curated by Aimée Burg. The featured artists are Liza Buzytsky, Frank De León Jones, Annie Ewaskio, Sarah Lassise, Simone Meltesen and Lizzy Sise. There will be an opening reception for Diversions at the institute Library on Sat., Jun. 29, from noon—2 p.m.

Humans live in the world, but are we of the world? The Romantic longing to connect to nature is sometimes so insistent that our presence in the natural world becomes desperate, uncanny, transgressive. Diversions explores the tension of humans inserted into the natural and forcing upon it their own human-nature. Figures are faceless, bodies disproportionate and at times simply implied. These actions suggest a narrative of utopian landscapes pushed to the surreal by our presence. The disruption ranges from awkward nostalgia to the introduction (and consequences) of nature overthrown. Diversions deals with the oldest of tropes: the joyous perfection of a paradise, and the dreadful premonition that its residents will destroy it.