Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Tara McPherson Presents New Works in “The Difference Between Here and There”

Brooklyn based artist Tara McPherson, first featured in our Collected 3 Edition, is constantly visiting and exploring new themes and iconography in her art. Though her playful and evocative characters first recalled issues from McPherson's childhood and adult life experience, they have since grown beyond that to incorporate themes from science and nature.

Brooklyn based artist Tara McPherson, first featured in our Collected 3 Edition, is constantly visiting and exploring new themes and iconography in her art. Though her playful and evocative characters first recalled issues from McPherson’s childhood and adult life experience, they have since grown beyond that to incorporate themes from science and nature.

Her recent series, titled “Weight of Water” explored the life of water molecules, which evolve through liquid, solid to gassy forms and how their survival through these different forms is akin to the evolution of human life. When she painted her first mural project in Italy last year, McPherson hoped that it would raise awareness about how we treat our planet, in the context of water specifically. These themes continue into her upcoming exhibition at KP Projects in Los Angeles on Saturday, where she introduces her nature-inspired heroines to some colorful old friends.

Titled “The Difference Between Here and There”, her exhibit sees some familiar faces in the world of Tara McPherson- cuddly polar bears, flying bunnies, unicorn-horned girls, and space cadets with heart-shaped holes in their chests. They are presented in the context of where her work is going from here- paintings of celestial women with glowing eyes who conjure magical streams of atoms and water droplets, representing the precarious nature of our own physicality and the resilience of the human spirit.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Now that June is here, the spring season has officially come to an end which marks the close of Kochxbos Gallery's group show, "Spring!" The exhibit features a variety of works by artists Ciou, Harma Heikens (HF Vol. 13), Sarah Maple, Sauerkids, Bethany de Forest, Tara McPherson (HF Collected Edition 3), Tim Biskup (HF Vol. 18), Ray Caesar (HF Vol. 4, 18), and Nicoletta Ceccoli, to name a few. Despite its spring-y title, their choice of themes are surprising, and reflect more on their most recent interests as artists. See more after the jump!
With every new body of work that Tara McPherson (HF Collected Edition 3) creates, there is a common theme and evolution to the next. Her upcoming show at Dorothy Circus gallery, "I Know It By Heart," carries on her exploration of ethereal imagery - portraits of young girls caught in a magical moment, but not without also recognizing the negative forces in nature. These include allusions to disease, destruction, and deterioration. There is a balance between what is visually beautiful and, possibly, emotionally discomforting for the artist.
Miho Hirano’s delicate portraits of young goddesses are in and of nature, adorned by pastel flowers, butterflies, and humming birds. They stand blissfully as slender tree branches wrap them in love and color, or wade neck high in a shallow river. We are immediately reminded of "Flora,” represented in Botticelli’s “Allegory of Spring”, a profusion of flowers coming out of her mouth.
San Francisco based artist Velia De Iuliis draws her inspiration from an inherent curiosity for all living things, and her colorful gouache illustrations are a tribute to the animals that she admires. Her work interprets their energy into abstract compositions that juxtapose the organic flow of nature with naturally occurring geometric forms like diamonds, ellipses and diagonal lines. "My work reflects what has fascinated me throughout my life. Themes of symmetry and patterns found in nature as well as nature itself are the avenues that both inspire and captivate me. Science, philosophy and art are tightly bound but to better understand humanity I have to first understand the natural world we live in, she says.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List