Suzanne Anker, Artist Talk: Arctic Gardens and the Sixth Extinction
SVA BFA Fine Arts Building New York, NY
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Suzanne Anker, Artist Talk: Arctic Gardens and the Sixth Extinction
Suzanne Anker, noted artist and Chair of BFA Fine Arts at SVA, speaks about her innovative work, in the concurrent exhibition at the Flatiron Project Space, exploring the onrushing ecological catastrophe.
BFA Visual & Critical Studies annually exhibits the work of a faculty member who has made a significant contribution to the SVA community. This year, the department presents an exhibition of new work by BFA Fine Arts Chair Suzanne Anker in the Flatiron Project Space from Tuesday, August 6, through Wednesday, September 25. A reception will be held on Thursday, September 12, 6:00 8:00pm.
The artist has prepared the following statement about the work:
Drifting back in time, five mass extinctions have marked Earth's history. Such catastrophic events are unexceptional. Rather they are intrinsic to the rotating cycle of the planet's elements. Geological clocks with their time spans are elusive concepts to grasp because they are calculated in millions, if not billions of years. Even algae are found in ice cores of Antarctica. Imagine the Arctic as a tropical jungle fifty million years ago. "Arctic Gardens and the Sixth Extinction" is a series of digital prints that fuse seasonal changes into a single image. Each day we wake, the seasons remake themselves: a new reality for which Anker has coined the term Monoseason. As temperatures rise and fall, soil turns into mudslides, fires erupt, draughts incinerate crops, diseases shift from animals to humans, and strange viruses mutate globally. Also included in the exhibition are three-dimensional hand painted rapid prototype sculptures corresponding to the original collages. A video, entitled "Insecta" adds the dimension of time and sound to the exhibition.