'Edenistic Divergence'
at the Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California
Recommendation by A. Moret

Curated by Andi Campognone, the group show “Edenisitic Divergence” examines the role of an ever-changing landscape through the critical and diverse lens of female artists Lisa Adams, Kimber Berry, Hollis Cooper, and Rebecca Niederlander. As the title suggests, the art’s visual rhetoric suggests a departure from an idyllic world and an entrance into one tainted by pollution, global warming, and destruction. Upon entering the exhibition space the viewer is consumed by a feeling of other worldliness as Niederlander’s contorted wire sculptures that drape the museum space like a nether world jungle - the wires twist, contort and nearly collapse onto themselves as they dangle from the exposed ceiling. Berry’s installation of shiny, technicolor paint creeps off the walls and along the floor. But perhaps the most arresting works come from Adams, whose large scale panels “Convocation” and “Given that All Things are Considered Equal” are the largest works the artist has ever created. The overlapping paint swatches weave a visual tapestry, which plays with the figurative renditions of aviary and plant life. On the surface Adams’ works are beautiful, delicate, and provoke a sense of wonder. Each is consumed with nature, but while “Convocation” is quite cinematic, “Given that All Things” presents a bird, fish and lily pad in their own, suddenly more symbolic space. The driving narrative in her works may be that life is driven to persist despite the destruction imparted by the hand of man and decay of nature, but the vision of life will change from one moment to the next.