Scott Greene and Marina Zurkow at Catharine Clark Gallery July 10, 2010

Reception: July 10, 5 - 7pm, exhibition: July 10 - Aug 21, 2010

Catharine Clark Gallery presents Scott Greene's solo exhibition of new paintings, "Capitulare de vita", and Marina Zurkow's video installation, "Elixir Series". The exhibition runs July 10-Aug 21; Greene will be present for the opening reception Saturday, July 10, 5-7pm.

In his third solo exhibition at Catharine Clark Gallery Scott Greene explores the balance between the natural environment and artificial constructs. He questions the notion that the two are mutually exclusive, arguing that beauty in nature is a construct and that all human activity is natural in accordance with evolution. The exhibition's title is derived from "Capitulare de villis", an edict issued by Emperor Charlemagne in 812 regulating the administration of his crown estates. Replacing "villis" (home or garden) with "vita" (life), "Capitulare de vita" loosely translates to "capturing life, or an inventory of life." Greene's visual exploration is an inventory of the stuff of estates, of life in a corporatocracy, and of what remains of the 'garden'. New to Greene's repertoire are a series of small paintings on velvet, which provide a compelling counterpoint to his more classical approach to painting. The exquisitely articulated forms rendered in a medium generally associated with kitsch reveals a sly sense of humor present in much of his work.

In the media room Marina Zurkow's "Elixir Series" describes impossible landscapes: cut-crystal bottles bobbing and tossing like buoys in the ocean. Each bottle holds an animated figure engaged in a repeated, metronomic action: a woman rowing, a blindfolded man stumbling to stay upright, a young girl trying to fly with paper wings, and a high-diver twisting and arcing. The highly layered video treatment pays tribute to the 19th century Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky, whose paintings of tiny ships on huge swells of ocean both mesmerize and terrify the viewer. The exhibition is an expansion of the single work from the Elixir series presented in June.

Official Website: http://www.cclarkgallery.com