Nature's Reflections

2024

Group exhibition presented by Almine Rech Gallery

Constricted within a dual vision, the Western concept of nature has long been defined by two attitudes: Orphic and Promethean. While the former advocates that humans should rekindle their bond with nature – not as a denial of its evolution but more as an assertion of a renewed communion between species, the latter defends a positivist ideology of controlling it. Whether there is a yearning for immersion or nature is perceived as a resource to be exploited, there prevails a wish to lift the veil over it, following the belief that "nature loves to hide", to quote Heraclitus.

The artworks in the exhibition ‘Nature’s Reflections’, at Almine Rech Monaco, place these two stances back to back. The artists do not attempt to domesticate or elucidate nature's mysterious secrets, but delve into the specifics of stories, places or even fictions that define our perceptions of the environment at a time when our ways of life are drastically affecting the planet's balance.

Tia-Thuy Nguyen, Just only today (Chỉ hôm nay thôi), 2023, oil and embellishment on canvas, 60 x 120 cm