Between Land and Sea
In this age of Anthropocene, a word used to describe the current geological era and a time during which humans have had a substantial negative impact on our planet, many artists harness their creativity for environmental activism. This exhibition presents Adriana Barrios’ artistic manifestations of her scientific work recording climate change. Colors, processes, materials, and texts combine in the pieces here as harmonious allusion to the coastal landscape and the artist’s call for action. Attentiveness to the ocean in these works also evidences Barrios’ personal relationship with the coastal borderlands of San Diego, California – the place she calls home.
During her lifetime, Barrios has witnessed dramatic changes to the coastal landscape. Some of the wide, sandy beaches she remembers from childhood are completely gone – the ocean now meets the built environment and threatens flood of businesses, residences, and other infrastructure. Added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of ocean water as it warms causes rising sea levels. In the work Pernicious, we see an image of cliffs along the water depicted with text from different news articles documenting the erosion of the rock formations caused by rain and rising waters. Barrios sometimes reprints over existing images of the cliff, marking the continued damage that she has seen occurring over time.
In August of 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading international body for assessment of climate change, reported that global warming is dangerously close to spiraling out of control and that humans are “unequivocally” to blame.[1] The series, February 2022, is a reminder of this urgent warning and an acknowledgement that humans collectively are not taking the issue seriously. In this work, images of different human-made barriers that attempt to keep back ocean flood water comprise the background. Hovering over these images and text inspired by reports of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, beach sand collected from the artist’s home and formed into the phrase, “Global Wake-Up Call Goes to Voicemail” directly confronts our collective passivity toward environmental crisis and the disconnect between how scientifically dense information is disseminated and received.
In response to this disconnect, the artist’s use of various printmaking processes invokes the history of printmaking as mechanism for sharing information. Many of the works here incorporate images of chart measurements and other facts she collected during her time working with Oceanographer Robert Guza. Printing this information on glass, rather than on paper, evidences the artist’s conceptual and technical experimentation with printmaking processes. The works are also creative investigations into materials. Glass is made of silica found in coastal beach sand. These glass prints require delicate handling, and, the artist says, “the same sort of handling we may or may not be participating in when we move through the world with each other and our planet.”
Visitors to this show may first notice the large-scale and boldly graphic printed wall. The swirling arrows and grid pattern, a common image in many of Barrios’ works, are marred by heavy splotches of dark ink. Reminiscent of the arrows seen on common weather pattern maps, these directionals may be pointing us toward a more ecologically sustainable future. The black stains represent barriers to how the public receives information about climate change and encourage awareness that this future is only possible if we collectively act now.
Sarah Anne Stolte
Curator, Gallery@Truax
During her lifetime, Barrios has witnessed dramatic changes to the coastal landscape. Some of the wide, sandy beaches she remembers from childhood are completely gone – the ocean now meets the built environment and threatens flood of businesses, residences, and other infrastructure. Added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of ocean water as it warms causes rising sea levels. In the work Pernicious, we see an image of cliffs along the water depicted with text from different news articles documenting the erosion of the rock formations caused by rain and rising waters. Barrios sometimes reprints over existing images of the cliff, marking the continued damage that she has seen occurring over time.
In August of 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading international body for assessment of climate change, reported that global warming is dangerously close to spiraling out of control and that humans are “unequivocally” to blame.[1] The series, February 2022, is a reminder of this urgent warning and an acknowledgement that humans collectively are not taking the issue seriously. In this work, images of different human-made barriers that attempt to keep back ocean flood water comprise the background. Hovering over these images and text inspired by reports of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, beach sand collected from the artist’s home and formed into the phrase, “Global Wake-Up Call Goes to Voicemail” directly confronts our collective passivity toward environmental crisis and the disconnect between how scientifically dense information is disseminated and received.
In response to this disconnect, the artist’s use of various printmaking processes invokes the history of printmaking as mechanism for sharing information. Many of the works here incorporate images of chart measurements and other facts she collected during her time working with Oceanographer Robert Guza. Printing this information on glass, rather than on paper, evidences the artist’s conceptual and technical experimentation with printmaking processes. The works are also creative investigations into materials. Glass is made of silica found in coastal beach sand. These glass prints require delicate handling, and, the artist says, “the same sort of handling we may or may not be participating in when we move through the world with each other and our planet.”
Visitors to this show may first notice the large-scale and boldly graphic printed wall. The swirling arrows and grid pattern, a common image in many of Barrios’ works, are marred by heavy splotches of dark ink. Reminiscent of the arrows seen on common weather pattern maps, these directionals may be pointing us toward a more ecologically sustainable future. The black stains represent barriers to how the public receives information about climate change and encourage awareness that this future is only possible if we collectively act now.
Sarah Anne Stolte
Curator, Gallery@Truax