For Immediate Release
August 15, 2018
10 Local Artists Respond to the Environmental and Political Complexities of the Climate Change Crisis
Tashi Wangdhu. Nature Reflection, 2018. Oil on canvas. Photo courtesy of artist.
Taking Temperature is a group exhibition presented in tandem with Coal + Ice, a documentary photography exhibition and climate festival coming to Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture this Fall. Co-curator of Coal + Ice and Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas, along with independent curator Jillian Schultz, selected ten artists whose work is concerned with the consequences of climate change. On both a personal and global scale, how have these shifts affected landscapes, cultures, and communities? What are the implications of living in a country whose government actively denies climate science? Themes include extreme weather events, apocalyptic scenes from the present and future, the refuse created by consumer capitalism and, overall, an urgent plea for environmental activism.
The artists of Taking Temperature address these issues poetically, exploring the emotional impact of a rapidly changing world and capturing those feelings with varying aesthetic approaches. For example, Darcy Padilla’s haunting images of the devastating aftermath of last year’s Northern California wildfires are authentic, yet otherworldly. The strange scenes show what happens when suburban sprawl pushes communities to the edge of nature and human arrogance continues to test the boundaries of the environment. Padilla’s unedited photographs reveal the result- a startling new reality.
Darcy Padilla. Untitled, 2018. Framed Archival Pigment Print. Photo courtesy of artist.
Mika Sperling brings us to the other side of the globe, to Norilsk, a mining city in Northern Siberia where temperatures reach as low as -67°F. Climate change has led to the thawing of permafrost here, leaving buildings at risk of collapsing and creating potential leaks in the pipelines of the Siberian tundra which would ruin the local economy. Through a striking video exploration of industry there, Sperling reminds us that global warming also leads to the suffering of the individual, and is to the detriment of disenfranchised communities throughout the world.
Conceptual sculpture, creative photography techniques, carbon prints of endangered tree species, tapestries made of recycled and reclaimed fabric, and larger than life depictions of a natural disaster are some of the other offerings you will find in the exhibition.
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Participating Artists: Noah Greene (UC Davis), Amber Eve Imrie (Stanford), Darcy Padilla (UC Davis), Alana Rios (SJSU) Joseph Robertson (SFAI) Stephanie Sherriff (Stanford), HyeYoon Song (CCA), Mika Sperling (SFAI), Tashi Wangdhu (Mills), Eve Werner (SFAI)
Press Previews by appointment.
Opening Reception: Friday, September 7, 2018, 5-8PM
Hours: 1–6pm every Thursday-Saturday from September 8 - October 13, 2018.
Media Contact: Angelica Jardini | Curatorial Director | info@embarkgallery.com
Embark Arts offers exhibition opportunities to current and recently graduated Masters of the Fine Arts students in the San Francisco Bay Area. We provide a space for an engaged community of artists, curators and scholars, and we aim to expand the audience for up and coming contemporary art. The juried exhibitions are held at our gallery in San Francisco at the historic Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.