MAIN GALLERY

 

–  ROBERTA RESTAINO –

GIARDINO SURREALE: DECODING NATURAL HISTORY

Jan 30 – Mar 2, 2019

Presenting the culmination of the Firehouse Art Center Winter Residency: the Giardino Surreale is the result of a three-month process to explore Restaino’s ongoing focus on interactive and constructive printmaking. The range of works playfully reference various historical and contemporary approaches to the study and presentation of natural history – from illustrative documents and field specimens to inventive works that come alive within the space.

Human beings have a dramatic relationship to the natural world: we have created art to understand it and our creations have changed it – leading to an era now called the Anthropocene. Restaino addresses this historical dance with her unique use of traditional printmaking techniques and surreal inventions that make the gallery environment their home.

The exhibit also features the community Gira e Rigira game: throughout the winter residency visitors have been encouraged to create their own tiles of the game, playing with design and composition in a way that mimics the repetition and chance combinations that we find in plant and animal life.