YALE UNION

The metaphorical concept of the forest is the organizing principle of this exhibition, in terms of the diversity of artworks and the cyclical or intergenerational perspectives they explore. Considering nature as a concept, structure, or formal subject, the exhibited works examine its cultural and social mediation, as well as “naturalized” systems of knowledge and power in the world at large. TREES IN THE FOREST takes an ecological approach to a disparate selection of recent art practices; it is an experimental survey of understudied territories in an era of routine environmental catastrophe.

Artists in the exhibition are: David Askevold, Martin Beck, Bernice Bing, Trisha Brown, Beverly Buchanan, Elise Duryee-Browner, Howard Fried, Charles Gaines, Nina Könnemann, Andrei Koschmieder, Peter Moore, Martha Rosler, Jen Shear & Vinnie Smith, Carlos Villa, Carleton Watkins and Jackie Winsor.

Kari Rittenbach is a writer and independent curator based in New York. She is a graduate of Yale University, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Whitney Independent Study Program.

×Nina Könnemann, The Fence, 2008, 16mm transferred to video, color, silent; Courtesy the artist
×David Askevold, Enlightened Symbols, 1999, oil-based silkscreen on waterproof paper (industrial safety and hazard signs overlayed on Kalachakra Mandala blueprint); Courtesy David Askevold Estate and CANADA, New York
×Bernice Bing, Opal Springs, Yellowstone, 1978, watercolor on paper; Courtesy the Estate of Bernice Bing