Los Angeles-based, Argentinian-born mixed-media artist Luciana Abait’s solo exhibition “ESCAPE – ROUTE” is on view at the Laguna Art Museum through March 8, 2024. ESCAPE – ROUTE is a large-scale narrative installation blending sculpture, photography, painting, and video The piece positions the viewer as a spectator on a vast road trip through the American West. Abait herself took such a journey with her family during the solitude of the pandemic, and that experience led to this project. ESCAPE – ROUTE is a featured component of the museum’s annual Art + Nature initiative.
On Sunday February 11, Abait will lead “Beautiful Lands,” a 2-hour art workshop in the museum’s STUDIO/Lab where participants will create an original work of art that explores various natural landscapes and the intersection of the wild and human worlds. The result will be an original, framed work of art worthy of hanging in your home. Tickets are required and advance registration is recommended: https://lagunaartmuseum.org/events/art-workshop-luciana-abait/
ESCAPE-ROUTE includes an enormous sculptural map that calls attention to the physicality and interconnectedness of our world. The marks upon it that define our cities, roads and divisions are a stark reminder of human intervention and the decreasing opportunities to experience nature unblemished. A large photograph taken through a rain-splattered windshield is the first in a series of images that drives the audience through ever-changing environments with the final goal to reach water – the symbol of life and renewal. The exhibition concludes with hypnotic video of images that continually morph from one landscape into another.
The images in the exhibition were taken from the road and show indominable landscapes, monumental mountains, snow-dusted vegetation and images of Lake Powell, a water reservoir that in recent times nearly dried up due to climate change and human mis-management. Seen from a distance, the landscapes appear to be idyllic and are reminiscent of 18th Century English landscape paintings. Upon closer viewing one sees that not everything is a utopia; a close examination of the details reveals evidence of the reach of our human imprint and a reminder of the power of human influence.
At the core of Abait’s practice is the hope for humankind to find belonging in a world besieged by global catastrophes, environmental disasters, health crises and the omnipresent evil of racial discrimination. ESCAPE – ROUTE reminds us that an escape into the natural world is paralleled by an internal journey of discovery and reflection where we can marvel, wonder, and ultimately strive for the fundamental necessity to preserve our lands and ourselves.
Pictured: “Windshield” 2023, Archival pigment inks and acrylic paint on raw canvas 38 x 57 inches
