“Luciana Abait: On the Verge” is the first-ever survey exhibition of the Los Angeles-based, Argentinian-born artist’s work. This expansive multi-media solo show features more than twenty pieces from 2017 to 2022, spanning photography, painting, sculpture, video installation and augmented reality. It also introduces a new photographic series “On the Verge,” created just for the exhibition. Throughout, Abait conjures imaginary worlds that address the fragility of our eco-systems and portend climate catastrophes. She hopes to influence a heightened sense of ecological awareness with viewers. An artist’s walk-through with Abait and Gallery Director and curator Karen Rapp will take place on Saturday, October 8 at 2:30PM (the gallery is open until 4PM). The event is free and open to the public. “Luciana Abait: On the Verge” runs through December 10.
From Buenos Aires, Abait immigrated to the United States in 1997. She draws from her personal feelings of displacement and vulnerability to urge viewers to consider how global warming is wreaking havoc, especially on the lives of climate migrants. For Abait, creating a piece like “The Maps that Failed Us” — a monumental sculptural installation of the maps of the world placed at random and out of context — makes visible our social, physical, and above all, global interdependence. The artist invites us to consider our collective geographic proximity and universal fate to reorient our sense of shared planetary survival.
“Luciana Abait: On the Verge” was curated by Laband Art Gallery Director Karen Rapp, who says, “I find that Luciana’s depictions of our contemporary climate crisis are likewise overwhelming and invitational. Her palette is sometimes skewed neon and deliberately unnatural which causes an unsettling effect. But, at the same time, she renders her pictures with such intentionally beautiful surfaces and colors to remind us of what is at stake: her landscapes are figuratively pushing at the edge of planetary existence. It’s as if she’s urging us to step into the scene and do something good.”
Abait created the timely new series “On the Verge” specifically for the exhibition at Laband. These photos were taken at Lake Powell, a water reservoir in the United States that is drying up at an alarming rate due to climate change. Reminiscent of 18th century landscape paintings, the details reveal that you are not looking at a utopia. A garbage dumpster, an asphalt parking lot, structures such as a water pump; these items highlight how the human imprint interrupts the beauty of the natural world and acts as a reminder of actions we can all take to alleviate climate change.
Another highlight is the site-specific digital projection “Agua” (2021), that has previously been shown only for a few hours at a time as part of several public art projects. For “Luciana Abait: On the Verge,” it will run every day the gallery is open for the duration of the show. The piece’s luminous, cascading waterfall celebrates the beauty and sensuality of water, while also reminding us – in drought-stricken times – of the precariousness of its supply as climate continues to change.
Abait’s visually immersive, augmented reality piece “The Glass Wall” further draws attention to water as a resource, and the realities and metaphors involved in the struggle to control it. In her statement for the piece, she says, “In this work, spectators brace for the possibility of being engulfed by the rushing waters – though the water is blocked from them by an invisible wall, like a plate of glass. The illusion will make viewers realize the threat to humanity from natural catastrophes as the water rushes toward them, as if they will be swept away. The visuals of the water’s forceful movement is a reflection on humanity’s power over nature – we can change its course, in a good or bad manner.”
Curator Rapp says, “For Luciana, the reality of dwindling waterfalls is obviously devastating but she is harnessing her optimism and hoping to reawaken humanity’s need for rebirth and renewal by conjuring virtual water as a spiritual and existential salve.” Throughout the exhibition, it is clear that Abait is compelled by the presentation of existential incongruities in her other-wordly landscapes — in color, size, and scale — to convey her ideas.
Pictured: “Wheel,” collage with soft pastel mounted on wood panel, 40×60” (2019)
https://www.lucianaabait.com/
