If a tree falls in a forest
Curatorial Project
Exhibition views
Led by Sherry Liu & Yantong Li
Featuring works by Peishan Huang and Maria Simmons, If a Tree Falls in a Forest brings together a collection of lens-based multimedia works that highlight two distinct, yet often interwoven imaginaries of nature. Huang’s work creates momentary fractures within a hyper-urbanized mediation of nature, while Simmons engenders a move towards more-than-human agents as carriers of knowledge. From artificial landscapes to folklore about overturned trees as portals, from deep forests to forgotten buildings, the artworks in this exhibition evoke the duality of human desires to both step into and aside from nature at a threshold in which the imaginaries collide.
Artists
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Peishan Huang (b.1994, Dali, Yunnan, China) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She holds an MFA in Multidisciplinary Fine Art from Maryland Institute College of Art (2021) and a BA in Advertising from Communication University of China (2018). Her recent work ranges from photography to sculpture to installation, exploring images and the spaces they inhabit, as well as the emotions pinned to objects and spaces. Peishan’s works have been exhibited internationally, including Three Shadow Photography Art Center in Beijing, China, Time Museum in Chengdu, China, ULTRAMONTANE Museum in Hangzhou, China, Advertising Museum of China in Beijing, China, Museum 54 in Shanghai, China, MP Birla Millennium Art Gallery in London, UK, theBLANC Art Space in New York, USA, Decker Gallery in Baltimore, MD, USA, Richard Riggs Gallery in Baltimore, MD, USA. Peishan has received Mount Royal Commencement Award (2022) and Gold-Stern Emerging Artist Award (2022). She has also completed Guerrilla War Artist Residency (2020) in Shanghai, China.
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Maria Simmons (she/they) investigates potentialized environments through the creation of hybrid sculpture and installation. Their work embraces contamination as an act of collaboration. She collects garbage, grows yeast, ferments plants, and nurtures fruit flies. She makes art that eats itself. They hold an MFA from the University of Waterloo and a BFA from McMaster University. Her recent solo exhibitions include the Visual Art Centre of Clarington, Gallery Stratford, Trinity Square Video, and Centre3. She has completed residencies at Est-Nord-Est (QC), Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (Norway), Mustarinda (Finland), BioArt Society (Finland), Silent Barn (USA), and Ed Video Media Arts Centre (ON). Their work has been written about in Peripheral Review, Public Parking, and featured in experimental food archives such as The Artist’s Cookbook vol.2 and Mixed Drinks.