Madrid's Opening Night for "Chemical Planet"
EXHIBITION OPENING: Friday, January 26, 2024 from 7:00 pm.
DURATION OF EXHIBITION: From January 26 to March 29, 2024.
SOLO SHOW MADRID SPAIN: www.galeriadearteaciegas.com
A Ciegas Art Gallery in the heart of Madrid, Spain reopened on January 26, 2024, debuting North American artist Richard Gene Barbera's latest environmental awareness installation. Featuring silkscreens to sculptures, the solo exhibition titled "CHEMICAL PLANET" marks Barbera's urgent call to action to address the man-made chemical alteration of landscapes sustaining human and ecological livelihoods.
"Chemical Planet," Barbera once again focuses his artistic conscience on humanity's impact on the climate and planet. He visually conveys alarming yet elucidating scenes of industrial chemicals insidiously integrated into landscapes, seascapes, and food chains. Barbera intends to foster an urgent awareness in art patrons, policy makers, and any witness of these collections. He reveals through aesthetic narratives the increasing prevalence of destructive man-made chemical alterations across environments sustaining life. By juxtaposing industrial pollution and waste with images of nature's wonder, Barbera makes an evocative call to action before conservation becomes impossible. This contemporary artist stands out not just for his techniques but his ability to illuminate pressing planetary threats.
Richard Gene Barbera's collaboration with scientists on advanced pollution detection technology has led to revelations profoundly influencing his latest collection, "Chemical Planet"—a visually striking interrogation of "natural" and artificial. Barbera spent formative months alongside brilliant minds engineering hypersensitive sensors identifying presence of toxic heavy metals in soils, water, foods. Their processes unveiled to Barbera the alarming, nearly ubiquitous spread of destructive man-made chemicals altering Earth's very biochemistry—the landscapes sustaining our lives and ecosystems pervaded by artificiality.
Informed by this new perspective on the fragile "Nature" modern instruments now reveal as peppered by industrial waste, Barbera strove to translate his scientifically enlightened vision through aesthetics. His resulting works across media, from screenprints to sculptures, shine light on chemical profiles invading our everyday to foster urgent awareness. One canvas layers shimmering watercolors of a pastoral farm overlaid with ghostly molecular models—pesticides and fertilizers altering the very DNA passed through food chains. Another depicts a murky metropolis, geometric profiles of skyscrapers juxtaposed with measured levels of air pollution. Even the veins of leaves under a microscope reveal the presence of microplastics.
Through his latest exhibition "Chemical Planet," Barbera translates both the grandeur and fragility of the natural world we call home into a visually arresting language. Though accustomed to nature's wonder, his intricate compositions sound the alarm - human activity has begun destabilizing the Earth’s balance. By focusing his artistic eye on patterns meditating on landscapes’ complexity, Barbera strives to convey the very character of nature now endangered by climate change, rampant pollution, and biodiversity loss. From minimalist seasides to maximalist cityscapes, his works represent the beauty being lost from greenhouse emissions and industrial waste plaguing the ecosystems we depend upon. Barbera hopes to make appreciators feel the urgent SOS cries of the planet before conservation becomes impossible. More than demonstrations of talent, these are messages from an artist seeking to raise awareness of complicated planetary threats through aesthetic narratives. Witness the wonders of “Chemical Planet” before it's too late.
en español
Chemical Planet es una exposición donde el artista expresa su reverencia por la naturaleza a través de varias plataformas, representando un mundo evolutivo pero frágil al que llamamos hogar. Aunque acostumbrados a su maravilla. La obra traduce la grandeza de la naturaleza a un idioma común, sin embargo, las alarmas indican que su magia pende de un hilo a medida que la actividad humana desestabiliza el equilibrio de la Tierra.
El artista, Richard Gene Barbera, enfoca patrones y composiciones que meditan sobre la complejidad de incluso los paisajes más minimalistas, “cuanto más observo las intrincadas conexiones de la naturaleza, más comprometido estoy profundamente a dar la voz de alarma a través de mi arte para que evitemos dar por sentado todo lo que está en peligro”. Así, Barbera, se esfuerza por
transmitir el carácter de la naturaleza mientras analiza los peligros a los que nos enfrentamos por el cambio climático, la contaminación y la desaparición de la biodiversidad. A través de su trabajo, espera representar tanto la belleza como la pérdida, pueda traducir las maravillas de la tierra en un S.O.S, antes de que sea demasiado complicado revertir el daño de nuestras emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y los residuos industriales que asolan el mundo natural del que dependemos. Más que nunca, su objetivo como artista es desarrollar la conciencia antes de que la conservación se vuelva imposible.
Recientemente, Richard Gene ha estado colaborando con un grupo de científicos que construyen sensores avanzados capaces de identificar contaminantes metálicos a nivel global en suelos, flora y alimentos. Estas herramientas altamente sensibles le han revelado la prevalencia de productos químicos industriales integrados en nuestros entornos cotidianos. Basándose en ideas obtenidas al trabajar junto a sus colegas científicos, sus nuevas obras artísticas en esténcil, serigrafía y pintura tienen como objetivo fomentar una conciencia urgente sobre los paisajes químicos alterados por el hombre que nos rodean y sostienen nuestras vidas. Su nueva perspectiva le lleva a traducir una visión esclarecedora y una llamada a la acción a través de un lenguaje contemporáneo que yuxtapone lo natural y lo artificial, conectando los perfiles químicos con las vidas humanas y los ecosistemas. A través de un interrogatorio estético de los tejidos de la "Naturaleza" tal como existe hoy en día, tal como lo revelan los instrumentos de medición que Gene ayuda a diseñar, se esfuerza por promover una mejor conciencia y responsabilidad química.