scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Erin Adams Land on still shot of Witches Burr seed pods in Lowkey Reboot 2021 at Keystone Art Space, Los Angeles California
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Production performance still from Back to School III,in the protective bubble, at the University of California
evergrowing audience on topical issues that affect our ever changing society? In particular, how do you consider the role of artists in our globalised and unstable society? Erin Adams: Much of my work is a reflection of my physical and psychological surroundings. In lowkey reboot and all the Back to School videos and performances, I am exploring and enacting situations and in some ways inviting the viewer to do the same. The conditional exploration in Back to School I was inspired by my research of female artists and their lack of representation during the majority of my art career from the 1980s onwards. In graduate school in 2019, I was seeing many more women artists being represented and the space was being made for them to lecture and speak about their work. This inspired me to create this performance and record the action of my journey from the art department to the lecture hall on my skateboard on my stomach. This ritualized journey was a way to perform and highlight the journey of a women artist to view women artist speakers. I was using my body as an arrow or pointer to show other students where to go to see the women artists who were speaking on campus. I presented my body in a humble and respectful pose to honor those women artists from the past who may have never had a chance to be represented. I was wearing a catholic school uniform to highlight the history of my own education and to consider the role of the Catholic Church in the Santa Barbara region. The idea to do this performance and to video it came quickly to me and the first work was created in 2 days. You are an established artist: your work has been in solo and group exhibitions in museums, galleries, public and online spaces, and over the years you have exhibited both nationally and Erin Adams scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Santa Barbara summer 2020, Covid 19 lockdown in effect.
Production still from Back
to School III, in the protective bubble leaving the Art Department, The University of California Santa Barbara 2020
internationally, including your recent participation to the London Biennale: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? As the move of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to online platforms — as Instagram — increases, how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience? Erin Adams: I’m excited to see so many more opportunities online and in traditional art settings to expand what is considered “Art” and to art audiences. The more we have opportunities to connect, relate and to express our humanity, the more compassion we will experience. The traditional gallery systems leave many folks out and the idea of an open ended digital or visual connection with viewers wherever they may be, feels more equitable for all. We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Erin. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Erin Adams: Thank you for the informed and stimulating conversation. I am currently working on a sequel to Lowkey Reboot set at an artist’s residency at The Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture in Kefalonia Greece in the summer of 2023. I aim to research and enact plant and human survival strategies as the Covid pandemic and other globalized viruses continue to affect us all. We also get to lean into family, friends work and play as joy strategy. scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Production performance still from Ba
Erin Adams scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land ck to School I - Waiting to enter lecture at Embarcadero Hall, The University of California Santa Barbara 2019, just before Covid restrictions and lockdown.
Hello Donna and welcome back to LandEscape. We already got the chance to introduce our readers to your artworks in a previous edition and we are now particularly pleased to discover the development of your artistic production. The new body of works that we have selected for this special edition of LandEscape is focused on the aerial views of Prague and we have been particularly impressed by the way you captured its geometric aesthetics: how did you compose each of the photographs of this project? And what were your aesthetic decisions when shooting? Donna Carnahan: Hello, and thank you for welcoming me back to share my art with your readers. When I was visiting the Czech Donna Carnahan, international photographer from Houston, Texas, specializes in international landscape photography. Since 2015, gaining inspiration from her love of Renaissance art in Florence, Italy, she has traveled extensively throughout 10+ regions of Italy. She has a passion for travel to remote and little known places where she photographically captures hidden gems of nature. Having studied the Italian language, culture, art and history, she is able to explore and record digitally, the majestic beauty found in landscapes, seascapes, vineyards, cliffs, caves, and architecture in a way that has been described as having a romantic vibe, beautifully composed with a three dimensional effect, and cleverly created to exhibit. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LandEscape meets Donna Carnahan My collection represents majestic beauty recorded while on foot on the Amalfi coast. Bringing back my photos from the Old World reminds me of the renewal of my own mind and refreshment of my soul I experienced at the seaside and exploring the gardens of Villa Cimbrone. Images of Italian summers can be good for the heart, soul, and mental health, as we all get through these times together. Surround yourself in the majestic beauty of Italy and feel the romantic vibes open your heart. @ladonnafoto
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Republic, my ancestral home, for the first time, we went up to the Petrin Tower in Prague and rode the elevator to the top. It was there that I experienced the breathtaking aerial view of Prague below. The geometric shapes of the historic buildings were very much contrasting to the spires rising up from the structures and rooftops below. Particularly, I wanted to include the entire surrounding Czech Castle and to have the main focal point of St. Vitus Cathedral draw the viewer's eye to the rising spires. In that way the viewer could experience the expansiveness from the elevated focal point. It's important to remark that this series has been created during your first visit to Czech Republic, that is the country of your ancestors: did this aspect of your personal history influence your process? More specifically, are there any ''familiar reports'' about your ancestors that did address you to capture a particular aspect of the city? Donna Carnahan: Yes, in fact the cathedral drew my eye because that is where our family's Roman Catholic faith originated. In the early 1900s my grandparents immigrated from Czechoslovakia to Texas, via the port of Galveston. and settled in central Texas. And Donna Carnahan scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
especially because Prague is known as the city of one hundred spires. I was inspired by Max Svabinsky's stained glass windows inside St. Vitus Cathedral. Inspired to create my first mixed media series for my upcoming exhibit, I painted on canvas with acrylic and oil based gold paint, then added tempered glass, glitter and finished with a shiny resin pour, hoping to reflect the stained glass designs of Svabinsky. We appreciated such vivacious contrast between the unique tones of the roofs and the brilliant green of urban vegetation. Did you adjust the hue of your images in order to achieve such effective results? And what was your approach when shooting on the technical aspect? Donna Carnahan: The day that I took the photographs was hazy and overcast with clouds, being the end of April. So, I wanted to emphasize the color of the reddish rooftops in contrast with the greenery surrounding the Prague Castle and take the viewer's eye extending beyond, out into the natural background. I wanted to emphasize the urban historic buildings set among and surrounded by the green space, including the entire landscape scene in my camera's frame. To draw the viewer's eye out onto the horizon line where earth meets the sky is what I wanted to achieve, noticed in the atmospheric quality. Just as Svabinsky was, I was inspired by Czech's landscapes. While in another body of works — that we have had the pleasure to introduce to our readers in a previous interview — you scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
Donna Carnahan scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
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Donna Carnahan scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land focussed on specific details, the current works seem to invite the viewers to capture the spirit of the city as a whole, through such synoptic visual experience. Would you tell us something about your decision about this particular aspect of your shooting process. Donna Carnahan: I like to bring back the energy represented in my photographs from places I have visited, particularly Prague. It is a very vibrant city and community that embraces the historical architecture that contrasts with everyday modern life. For example, in my image "Musical Prague" I wanted to capture the entire area including the spires, the opera house, along with people and cars crossing the bridge over the Vltava river. Your recent works are sapiently structured, still convey captivating feeling of spontaneity, make the viewers feel as if they're watching such an enchanting panorama from a balcony. Did you know immediately when you have taken a good shot? Is there a split second when you press the button and you know you have made the shot? Donna Carnahan: I believe it’s an instinct within me that I know I’ve captured the essence, perfectly composed, in the image of the energy that I want to convey to the observer. However, it takes me some time to curate the images and then edit, crop and print them. For instance, the Prague city images I am sharing with your readers today were taken in 2015. I carefully maintain my
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database of over 20,000 images with a regular backup system of my laptop so that I can use the images when the opportunity arises. We noticed that — although they're basically aerial views — human presence is recurring in all the works from your series, and we really appreciated the way they communicate the pulsating energy of a living city: how important was it for you to capture the human aspect of Prague? Donna Carnahan: I wanted to capture what it was like living there and visiting the city. My hope is that my images represent the thriving energy of people going about their daily lives and show the ant-like visitors below crossing the bridges, as I did. For example in "Dancing House" the viewer will find four people enjoying a conversation as they cross the street with the famous modern architectural building behind them. In "Old Town" you will find a young family with coats, caps, and scarves braving the chilly weather as they rush by the Astronomical Clock in midafternoon. Prague is filled with curious and adventurous travelers who take it all in. When capturing the everchanging qualities of an urban environment, your works suggest that Photography is related to selfdiscovery, and more specifically to the attitude of the photographer to capture specific instances of what is happening. Do you agree with this interpretation? More specifically, as an artist creating works in the footsteps of her ancestors, how did the idea of self discovery influence your process? Donna Carnahan: At the moment the shutter button is pressed, I have captured something that cannot be recreated. Only scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Donna Carnahan Land
in that one instant, time is frozen and everything will change in the next. I was encouraged to visit the Czech Republic by family members here in the US, so I followed in their footsteps in order to see our ancestral home. Yes, the photographs are about self-discovery for me, learning about the country where my ancestors lived. The experience has influenced my life with a stronger appreciation for what they sacrificed, leaving everything behind to start a new life and raise their family here in Texas. In my carefully curated collection, I want to convey how I felt and what I saw, an experience, and share it with the world and my community back home. Your current body of work has fascinated us for the way it brings ordinary life to a new level of aesthetic significance, addressing the viewers to hidden, crystallised moments in the everyday: how important is it for you to highlight the aesthetics of ordinary life? Donna Carnahan: I hope I have crystalised the aesthetics of ordinary life in Prague, as hundreds of visitors passed over the Charles Bridge connecting Prague Castle and the city's Old Town. It is also known as the "King's Route" over the Vltava River, where you can also see many boats and birds overhead. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts again, Donna. How do you see your evolution as a visual artist over scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
Donna Carnahan scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
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time? Are there any things that you do fundamentally different from when you? We are particularly interested if you plan to capture again images from the Amalfi Coast. Donna Carnahan: I am working on my upcoming exhibit for the Czech Center Museum Houston. The museum is hosting my exhibit entitled "Czech it Out: from the lens of a Czech Houstonian" during FotoFest Biennial 2022. I am excited and feel honored to have been selected by the curatorial board of FotoFest to premier my Prague collection of images. In fact, I have discovered a new way to show my photos with mixed media. I am using acrylic paint and tempered glass covered by a resin pour for a shiny finish to represent my photography cutouts as the focal point. I am excited to share the originals in this exhibit from September 24 through October 18. I will be returning to Italy at the end of August to visit another region, Piedmont, as well as Tuscany during the fall vineyard harvest. I certainly want to go back to the Amalfi Coast and will bring my camera, as always, to capture the beautiful essence of Italy. Thank you for featuring my photography in your Special Biennial 2022 of LandEscape Art Review. I welcome your readers to visit my website, ladonnafoto.com, and follow me on Instagram to find out more about where I am exhibiting next. Donna Carnahan scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
Hello Donya and welcome to LandEscape. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production and we would like to start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training: you hold a Diploma in Graphic from Saba Art School, and after that you nurtured your education with a Ba in Sculpture, that you received from Tehran Art University: how do these formative years influence your evolution as an artist? Moreover, how does your cultural substratum address the direction of your current artistic research? Donya Fazelnia: Thank you, it is my pleasure to be here and I am honored to be featured in this publication. Going back, I can say that I was raised in a family that loved and appreciated the arts. My father was a nature photographer and my sister was active in the field of music. Meanwhile, my mother endeavored to cultivate my creativity, and always believed that art is not about creating a tangible object; it is a way of life. I believe that living in a family of art enthusiasts has influenced a large part of who I am today, because it inspired me pursue graphic design in a vocational school. Later, I became interested in fine art and decided to study sculpture at university. I can say with certainty that such academic environments were greatly influential in developing my thoughts, ideas, and artworks. The way I see it, such an influence had several origins, the most important of which is the fact that stepping into an academic environment allows you to keep up with everyone’s artistic process. This can be highly beneficial, because familiarity with another person’s unique art formation process can help you gradually find your own. I believe that art is constantly advancing, particularly in groups. Looking at different artistic styles, you would find that they are not exclusive to any one artist’s artwork, rather multiple artists have thought, written, and created in that style; even though the uniqueness of all their works is apparent. If I were to discuss the cultural foundation of our society in its relation to my artwork, I could say that each artist has a unique life An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LandEscape meets Donya Fazelnia It does not matter if you are a rat or a rhino. You are in danger of extinction with human intervention @donya.fazelnia
Extinction
experience; even if they have lived in the same time and place as another artist. Life experiences and cultural foundations can affect such artists’ works both consciously and unconsciously. I was born in Iran and have lived there; in a country with a rich culture that has gradually gravitated towards western culture. This duality can be observed everywhere, from architecture to artworks. Naturally, I cannot be independent of my cultural foundation and, as I pointed out, it has influenced my works either consciously or unconsciously. I expect that such influences play a bigger role in the concept behind my works rather than their appearance. The word I would use to generally describe my society is “melancholy”. I do not believe I have ever directly referenced this fact since I seriously started pursuing art. Through a psychological approach to the limitations imposed by our minds, I worked on the series titled “Instinct”. In my artwork “Alternative Reality”, I set out to convey the amiability of the present circumstances to the audience. Lastly, in the series titled “Angels With No Wings”, which included “Extinction” as well, I tried to have a critical yet empathetic outlook on mankind’s relationship with nature and animals. In the sculpture on which I am currently working, I have employed an Investigative approach to lack of motivation. All these works are linked to my cultural foundation. For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected EXTINCTION a stimulating work — that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article — that has at once captured our attention for the way it raises awareness on environmental issues, highlighting at the same time the uniqueness of the viewers' response to the work of art. When walking our readers through the genesis of EXTINCTION, would you tell us something about your usual setup and process? Donya Fazelnia: Usually, my artworks are created through three different approaches. The first approach, which I find myself using in most cases, begins once a particular topic or concern gets stuck in my mind. I will write down my thoughts regarding such topics and start prototyping; thereby initiating the art-making process. My second approach is to use my unconsciousness. Sometimes I get inspiration from my dreams as well as by picking out their more interesting elements. Sometimes I write them down, other times I sketch them. They will either find a place in the sculpting process or get summarized in those notes and sketches. The last approach, which is very exciting for me, is what I refer to as “Going With The Flow”. In this approach, I look at objects and occurrences as pieces of art and attempt to extract some sort of meaning from them to be turned into an artwork. That is how “Extinction” was created. Several years ago, the news came out that the last surviving “Northern White Rhinoceros” had died and, even though two females of the specie were still alive, they were considered to be effectively extinct. One of the zookeepers had argued that the death of this rhino was evidence of mankind’s negligence of nature. I felt the same, particularly since many rhinos are poached for their horns, which is a very painful fact. This incident was always on my mind, and sometimes I found myself thinking about it. I was always attracted to the physical appearance of rhinos, and the fact that they look tough and massive, are herbivores, and their adults basically have only humans as natural predators. Donya Fazelnia scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
I made a ceramic rhino this year. After some time, I found a mousetrap and immediately felt that it could give meaning to this ceramic rhino. I put the rhino in that mousetrap and looked at it. It was deeply meaningful. EXTINCTION features unsparing realism that invites the viewers to focus both on the whole process and on its details, stimulating an open reading: what do you hope your spectatorship will take away from EXTINCTION? Donya Fazelnia: I care about clarity in my artwork, but cannot claim that my intentions automatically make my works explicit and clear for the audience. I have always endeavored to have a reason for every element in my work, even the color. In this work, you can see a white ceramic rhino that is only covered with a transparent glaze. This white, immaculate color portrays the purity of the rhino and the fact that it has been belittled and humiliated like a mouse through an exaggerated scaling effect which minimizes the rhino, who are ironically considered to be the second biggest animal after elephants. Additionally, the contrast between the immaculate white rhino, and the fence and the dusty, worn-out wooden part of the mousetrap can be an indicator of the cruelties done to rhinos or animal cruelty in general. The audience can take part in this work; they can open or close the cage or even take the rhino out. This fact directly ties into humans’ involvement in nature, and their decisions regarding their interactions with nature and animals. Artists from different art movement and eras — from pioneer Richard Morris, passing through Thomas Light and Andy Goldsworthy, scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
Donya Fazelnia scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Extinction
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Thomas Pickarski scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land to more recently Kelly Richardson— use to communicate more or less explicit messages in their artworks: do you think that artists can raise awareness to an evergrowing audience on topical issues, as environmental themes, that affect our everchanging society? In particular, as an how do you consider the role of artists in our globalised and unstable society? Donya Fazelnia: Yes, absolutely. We should always keep in mind that art is a language shared among all mankind. In my opinion, the artist’s calling is to inform the audience. In fact, to better define particular matters and to stimulate the audience’s minds, the artist is always one or several steps ahead of society. For instance, I believe that Goldsworthy's land arts and Kelly Richardson’s artworks deeply arouse feelings of the preciousness of nature which I consider to be very admirable. We highly appreciate the way your works highlights the impact of human intervention on our surrounding space, through the developement of such universal visual language: how important is intuition is for you to create your works? Donya Fazelnia: If we take observation to be the artist’s instinctual understanding of the world around him, then observation has surely influenced my works. I believe that even if an artist creates an artwork based on logical reasoning, his/her observations ultimately become apparent, because part of the world around the artist gets portrayed. You are a versatile artist and your production encompasses both abstract and figurative works. Still, each of them conveys such stimulating visual ambivalence, that urges the spectatorship to a participative effort, to realize their own interpretation:
Extinction
how important is for you to trigger the viewers' imagination in order to address them to elaborate personal interpretations? In particular, how open would you like your works to be understood? Donya Fazelnia: Whenever I visit an exhibition as a member of the audience, I look at the artworks before reading their statements. This way, I will form my own impression scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Extinction
without knowing the artist’s personal interpretation; a fact that allows me to later seek the statement with interest. Sometimes my impressions are close to that of the artist and other times they are not, but I enjoy myself regardless, because both impressions become meaningful for me. Likewise, in my own artworks, I respect the audience’s impressions and do not like to Donya Fazelnia scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Extinction
Extinction
impose my interpretations on them. As I mentioned, I care about clarity in my works, but that does not mean that my artworks exactly mirror my intentions; I would have written or talked about those intentions if that were the case. - Quoted from Edward Hopper: “If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.” We definitely love the unique materic, almost tactile feeling of your artworks. We sometimes tend to forget that a work of art is a physical artefact with tactile qualities, and we really appreciate the way your artistic production reflects this aspect: how important is for you to highlight the physical aspect of your artworks? Donya Fazelnia: There are three principles in forming art: The artist, the artwork, and the audience. Engaging the audience with the artwork is important to me. In some of my works in the series “Instinct”, the audience would see different reflections based on their point of view. In my work “Alternative Reality”, the audience would complete the artwork by seeing themselves reflected in it. In Extinction, such a distance is utterly shattered as the audience connects with the artwork through physical contact. The audience can experience “Extinction” in different ways; they can open or close the cage or take the rhino out. Meticolously refinished in their details, your artworks have struck us for the way you sapiently conveyed rigorous sense of geometry with such unique refined aesthetics: how do you consider the role of details within your artistic practice? scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
Donya Fazelnia scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land from INSTINCT collection
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Donya Fazelnia: Details can give soul to the artwork, even if it is a simple white cube. Its material, texture, and generally any other details that the artist has incorporated are effective. As I see it, if my “Extinction” rhino had no details or was a flat silhouette of a rhino’s outline, it would have had a different meaning and impression, failing to have the emotional impact that the detailed version has. Of course, I also believe that removing details can be effective in invoking certain other emotions, depending on the artist’s intentions. Your works have been showcased in many occasions, including your participation to Noxte II, Kunstquartiers Bethanien Studio 1: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? As the move of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to online platforms — as Instagram https://www.instagram.com/donya.fazel nia — increases, how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience? Donya Fazelnia: I look at the relationship between the audience and myself as a mutual partnership. I create an artwork that is understood by the audience; we both get to experience the work. That is a very deep connection, especially if our impressions turn out to be similar. “Alternative Reality” was exhibited at the event titled “NOXTE II”. I was not present, but the exhibition's curator sent me a picture of the audience sitting in front of my work and seeing their reflections in the cone. I felt very excited because, even though I was not present in the exhibition, scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Donya Fazelnia Land
the audience and I had a mutual experience; they might as well have completed my artwork by reflecting their images in it. Actually, I sometimes think about the artworks that find their way outside galleries, a fact that lets us live with art and become intimate with it. A positive fact that I can see regarding the effects of social media on art, particularly “Instagram”, is the breakdown of geographical boundaries. You can contact scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition from INSTINCT collection from INSTINCT collection
from INSTINCT collection
from INSTINCT collection