Back to Nature Article

The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA)

June 27, 2006

Christopher Marcisz, Berkshire Eagle Staff

Tuesday, June 27 NORTH ADAMS -- The cleverest comment on the subject matter of this summer's "Back to Nature" show at the Contemporary Artists Center is probably Cayetano Ferrer's digital projected image on the wall, of the bridge and north branch of the Hoosic River just over the other side. It is projected next to a window and creates the effect of removing that wall. This triggers a moment of funny clarity, reminding viewers that the show is not about nature, but how we meet and engage nature.

Nature is a big topic and the CAC is not the first place to undertake an exploration of it. And here in the Berkshires, the intersection of culture and nature has been a hot topic since at least Sterling Clark decided to drop his collection in the middle of acres of fields and woods.

Artistic meditations on nature are productive because they help artists to avoid the kind of anthropocentric and self-absorbed world view that makes some contemporary art rather tiresome. This exhibit is almost mercifully free of overt personal statements, problems, and commentary.

Some stray further than others. The strongest pieces in the show are those that eschew aggressive political engagement. They are about the ways that nature and civilization intrude into one another, as in the series of photos by Dana Fritz, in which dense black and white images dwell on how mundane manmade objects like a water fountain or tree crutch stick themselves into the natural world.

The same intrusiveness is a theme in many of the works. Mark Andreas' sculpture "Seed Spreader" is an absurd example. It is a dangerous looking metal contraption made of springs and blades, resting on a patch of dirt and grass.

Another example of this subject from Brian D. Collier, a conceptual piece aiming to recapture some of man's influence on the natural world. The project is about starlings, the little black birds that have taken the continent by storm when they were introduced from Europe in 1890. The effort is to convince people to teach the birds the name of the man who brought them to America, Eugene Schieffelin, by creating devices that recite the world "schieffelin," and recruiting collaborators to yell it at them.

When art meets nature you usually end up in a sort of hall of mirrors, which ultimately says more about the viewer than the forests, hills and wildlife around us. The show's curators make their point clearly in their postcard, which treats nature as an idea to be attacked and dissected. It reads, "23 artists examine the emotions, dialogs, and idealizations that have been built around the notion of 'nature.'"

This is why Ferrer's piece is so striking, touching as it does on the idea of museum windows. Consider a place like the Frick Collection, in the heart of Manhattan. When I lived in New York I'd look out the window across Fifth Avenue to the "natural" landscape of Central Park. Now when I go as a visitor from the Berkshires, I look closer at the streets and sidewalks and the life of a giant city going about its business.

Art Review