NYC PREVIEW 🔥 , works by Michael Handley and Greg Lindquist
Reception: Sat, October 5, 2024, 4-7 pm
Palladium Athena space inaugural exhibition
Greenpoint, Brooklyn and open by appointment
Michael Handley, White Columns, 53 x 88 inches, Wildfire Retardant, Kolor Kut, 2024
Greg Lindquist, Heatwave (105 Wildfires Burn Across 35 Towns in Turkey), 36 by 55 2 1/8 in, oil, metallic, and iridescent pigment on linen on panel, 2024
This project is a curation of a New York preview of the Los Angeles Landing Gallery show 🔥, works by Michael Handley and Greg Lindquist, Nov 2 – Dec 21, 2024, opening Nov 2, 6 – 8p.
Michael Handley and Greg Lindquist both examine the profound impact of wildfire in their work, exploring their causes through the forces of nature and human intervention. The Los Angeles based Landing Gallery is set to show the work of these artists together. I had the opportunity to curate the New York City preview of this show. This allowed for a New York City audience the opportunity to view these works and also allows for a chance to compare how both New York City and Los Angeles audiences would receive these works.
We bring our own lived experiences into the moment when viewing art. While both New York and Los Angeles experience wildfires, the scale, frequency, and impact are different for those living in these two cities. Due to its climate, location, and history Los Angeles faces an ongoing wildfire crisis exacerbated by climate change. New York’s wildfire risk is more localized and less severe therefore less of a prevalent concern for New Yorkers. Consequently, California has a more aggressive wildfire response and preparedness strategy, while New York’s efforts are focused on isolated incidents and forest management. Because of this disparity there is a greater chance of personal experience and connection to wildfires to those who live in Los Angeles than New York City which both makes this show a strong choice for this Los Angeles gallery and an interesting compare and contrast choice to preview this work for a New York audience.
These two shows allow for a space to focus on different approaches dependent on where the viewer is located when experiencing the work. It can be assumed that viewers bring empathy and firsthand knowledge of wildfire’s historic impact to work. Both east and west coast will consider the engaging surfaces and materiality of these paintings. In New York, with less first-hand connection with wildfire outbreaks the interaction with these works may lean more towards these considerations. In the upcoming show in Los Angeles the consideration may draw more on first-person experiences.
In addition to these location-based considerations both artists work further inform the conversation with their individual and sophisticated approach to the subject.
Michael Handley’s art explores themes of environmental manipulation and destruction, with wildfire as a central focus. Along with geo-engineering, arid and drought-stricken environments, his work reflects the increasing frequency and intensity of fires, particularly within the broader context of climate change. Through unconventional materials and expressive techniques, Handley conveys both the raw power and uncontrollable nature of wildfires. His pieces often evoke the chaotic beauty and devastating aftermath fires leave on natural landscapes.
Using Wildfire Retardant, Handley generates the work from the point of being/burning as if he were a wildfire. Through abstraction, Handley emphasizes the turmoil and scars left on both the environment and human communities and captures this essence through his use of a nearly flat perspective, putting the viewer in the fire rather than as an observer.
Handley’s art reflects on humanity’s relationship with nature and highlights the urgency of addressing the ecological imbalances that contribute to rising wildfire risks. In his work, fire becomes both a warning and a symbol of loss, destruction, and potential rebirth.
Greg Lindquist’s work addresses environmental issues, with wildfire playing a significant role in his exploration of nature’s fragility and the impact of human activity on the environment. He frequently focuses on the intersection of landscape and ecological crises, depicting scenes of destruction and regeneration in the context of climate change. His work is a response to the broader visual and emotional consequences of ecological disasters.
Lindquist’s paintings highlight the destructive force of wildfires. His pieces explore scorched landscapes and smoke-filled skies, using fire as a meditation on both nature’s power and the environment’s resilience. Wildfire, in his work, serves as both a symbol of the urgent environmental challenges we face and a natural phenomenon that has long been part of Earth’s ecological cycle.
Lindquist often collaborates with scientists, activists, and environmental organizations to ensure his art is grounded in current ecological realities, merging artistic expression with environmental advocacy. This approach informs the wildfire imagery to a metaphor for broader climate change concerns.
Both Michael Handley and Greg Lindquist use the subject of wildfire in these paintings to explore ideas of impermanence, environmental change, and the human impact on natural landscapes. The opportunity to experience them within New York City and Los Angeles communities adds yet another layer with which to interpret these paintings.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Michael Handley
Michael Handley received his BFA from the University of Utah and his MFA from the Yale School of Art in sculpture where he received the George R. Bunker Painting and Printmaking Award. Handley has exhibited internationally and nationally, including a timely exhibition in 2017 at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art based on rain modification and drought-stricken landscapes. In 2019, Handley attended BANFF Centre for Arts and Creativity under the “Earthed” themed residency focusing on environmental degradation and was awarded the prestigious Louis Muhlstock Endowment for painting.
michaelhandleystudio.com
Greg Lindquist
Greg Lindquist is an artist and writer living in New York. Lindquist co-edited the Art Books in Review Section of The Brooklyn Rail from 2011 until 2017. Lindquist’s work has been exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of Arizona Museum of Art, among others, and has been awarded the Sharpe-Wolentas Space Program, Milton and Sally Avery Foundation Grant, the Pollock-Krasner Grant and ArtOMI residency. His recent paintings and participatory installations have focused on applying the beauty of landscape and abstraction to raise awareness of environmental concerns.
greglindquist.com