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Guggenheim Fellows Talk Land Art

Erika Blumenfeld, David Taylor, Michael Berman in Abq.

Guggenheim fellows Erika Blumenfeld (photos above), Michael Berman, and David Taylor gathered to discuss their photographs on view in three companion shows in Albuquerque, in connection with LAND/ART, on October 3. LAND/ART, a collaboration of arts organizations within New Mexico, has been a half-year exploration, through art events that explore relationships to land, art, and community, on  how our relationship to the land is in flux.  Ultimately, each panelist revealed their unique connection to land through the lens of their art. In a discussion moderated by curator Mary Anne Redding, the three artists talked about their photographs within the scope and mission of LAND/ART.

Prompted by Redding's question about process, Blumenfeld compared her course as an artist to that of star's trajectory-a likely metaphor given her interest in astronomy.  Blumenfeld's photographs of Antarctica are similarly concerned with light and color, as in her earlier work.  Thus, her process is like that of an "ecological archivist," she remarked.  The ritual of observing and documenting the natural world is a pastime she shares with Michael Berman.  Also a photographer, Berman traverses the grasslands of southern New Mexico recording the quiet stories hidden within the landscape.  While Blumenfeld archives the enormity of phenomena (i.e. light, ice, stars) in a single abstract capture, Berman devoutly revisits the tiny triumphs and tragedies that occur daily in the Otero Mesa (below).

David Taylor's exploration of land markings, with a nod to Robert Smithson, also calls forth triumphs and catastrophes that take place amid a landscape.  The landscapes of his focus are the San Ysidro/Tijuana and El Paso/Juarez borders.  Understanding the divide of the US/Mexico border, Taylor's photographs remember the struggling crossers, bearing witness to immigrants near death on their quest.  With irony, Mexican nationals build the fences that keep them out of the United States.  However, the opportunities that await them on the other side of the barbed-wire fences, summon their  courage.  Taylor has himself performed hundreds of illegal border crossings in the process of photographing border monuments (the primary subject of his photos, which capture border monuments from El Paso to San Diego) to complete the "Separating Species" exhibition.  His images present societal notions of naming and claiming place, along with the serious enforcements such claims have on North American citizens. 


As Taylor's exhibition title suggests, when we name something we begin to separate ourselves from it.  Psychoanalyst Eric Berne (1910-1970) agrees, "The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing."  Both Berman and Taylor acknowledge romanticized notions of the Southwest, and the land within their lens is of similar terrain-dusty hills, piñon trees, and forgotten fences.  Taylor's imagery announces the conflict that can arise from naming the land, while Berman archives the beautiful wilderness without its names.

Towards the end of the discussion a theme emerged, which united Blumenfeld, Berman and Taylor's artwork.  Blumenfeld mentioned artist/writer Robert Irwin, commenting on his concept that most people resist direct experiences.  These three Guggenheim fellows thoroughly connect with the land.  Although each artist explores their connection to nature differently, they all seek an "unmediated experience," says Taylor.  This is a beautiful notion.  As these artists travel to remote, exotic, or romanticized locals, they archive the place, in a sense preserving it.  Through their photographs, the place they capture will always be remembered as it was.  Blumenfeld's Antarctica, Berman's Otero Mesa, and Taylor's US/Mexico border have been protected from change, because the documents will remain as photographs.  

More information about LAND/ART can be found at http://www.landartnm.org/.  Blumenfeld's exhibition "Early Findings: Artifacts from The Polar Project" will be on display at the Richard Levy Gallery until the end of October.  Taylor and Berman's shows "Separating Species" and "Grasslands" are currently on exhibit at 516 Arts in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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