Natural Curiosities

A group show featuring artists:

MELISSA DICKENSON, MILA LIBMAN, KAREN MARGOLIS, DANIELLE RANTE, & KATIE STUBBLEFIELD

Exhibition Dates
September 10th – October 5th

K Imperial Fine Art is pleased to present Natural Curiosities, a group show featuring the works of, Melissa Dickenson, Mila Libman, Karen Margolis, Danielle Rante, and K. Imperial’s newest artist Katie Stubblefield.

All living things cannot help but be rooted in the earth that we exist on. Humans, plants, animals, and microscopic lifeforms all share some commonalities despite their fundamental differences. We are all bound by nature and its numerous forms, systems, and structures that support life. We all share the same home though we inhabit it and engage with it in wildly different ways. While degrees of consciousness, complexity, and environmental impact varies across different living things, the fact that they all exist, live, grow, and interact in the same collective space is profound and mesmerizing. The artists in this group show, all engage with that fundamental connective truth in different and compelling ways. From the elemental to the expansive, each artist examines life, nature, and existence in their own captivating and distinct way. This collection of works demonstrates the diversity of perspectives on observing life and the act of being alive.

Microcosm by Mila Libman

Mila Libman creates vast, breathtaking depictions of nature in moments of simultaneous power and stillness. The contemplation and precision that Libman employs are masterful and unparalleled. Her works have the rare ability to make a viewer feel small and limitless at the same time. The scope and detail of her renderings of natural scenes remind viewers that nature is formidable, astounding, and also profoundly delicate and fascinating.

Ocher Cove by Melissa Dickenson

Melissa Dickenson is another artist who has a remarkable ability to communicate the tranquility and magnificence of unadulterated natural scenes. Dickenson’s unique process involves incorporating natural elements — whether it’s coal, clay, dust, or minerals — into the materials that make her work. Dickenson makes a specific effort to forage these materials from the very locations she depicts. The tones, textures, and pigments are directly derived from her subject matter. This unique creative choice reminds us that a place has as much presence and richness as we do as individuals and that consciously or not, we are always interacting with and leaving a mark on the spaces we inhabit.

Danielle Rante is a master of blue. This is deftly illustrated through her rich and ornate cyanotype works. Rante subverts the conventional impulse to use cyanotype as a means of photographic reproduction and instead uses it as a base for stunning lyrical (and sometimes geometric) impressions of mountains, water, flora, and the cosmos. In her work, viewers are reminded of the gift of the ability to witness nature’s magnificence and mystery.

Elemental (big sky) by Danielle Rante

The Fog by Katie Stubblefield

While Rante’s work looks at nature on a grand scale, the work of Karen Margolis looks at nature on an elemental level. Karen’s work is intricate, delicate, full of interwoven shapes and structures. Whether sculptures or works on paper, the right compositions and clustered circular motifs of Margolis’ work bring to mind the wonders of biology — molecules, spores, organelles, and cell cultures. Margolis makes the microscopic unconventionally macroscopic and invites viewers to marvel at the complexity of nature that we often overlook.

Katie Stubblefield’s work has a markedly unsettled depiction of nature. Katie’s potent monochromatic compositions are filled with frenetic and angular gestures that feel familiar and foreign at the same time. Suggestions of ice, branches, water, and moonlight emerge from otherwise indiscernible scenery. Her work uniquely portrays the volatility of nature and how it is capable of being both an agent and a victim of destruction.

The depth and breadth of depictions of nature in this exhibition are as varied as they are powerful. Nature has many forms and moods and the artists featured in Natural Curiosities embody that with grace, skill, diversity, and finesse. Natural Curiosities is on display from September 10 – October 5th.

By appointment only, for now, please contact:
kimperialfineart@me.com
(415) 277-7230