DRIFT, a solo exhibition by Natasha van Netten at arc.hive artist run centre (Victoria, BC), explores the continual movement of the ocean from a variety of perspectives: from the glassy barrier of the surface to the soup-like complexities of the seawater below.
Please scroll down for more images and to read a summery of this exhibition.
Horizon Series
This series of oil paintings is informed by my experience of living on a sailing vessel. The sea is an environment that is continually in motion. The only solid and reliable point of reference is the horizon. These paintings are wired twice to hang so either the horizon will be level or the painting will hang straight—forcing a compromised decision and creating a sense of movement while evoking the impulse to “correct” the skewed painting.
Blue Planet Series
This series of experimental photographs was created by capturing small portions of one of my drawings through a microscope. The drawing was created with ink and layered with seawater. I used the microscope to further investigate how the seawater has affected the drawing: leaving behind salt formations, fragments of plants and microorganisms and displaced ink. The circular shape of the lens hints toward something small, like a cell, and at the same time it suggests the infinite.
Weather Watercolour Series
I created these plein air watercolours during an artist residency in Iceland last winter. Painting in this environment was challenging: limited daylight hours, wind and snow storms, freezing temperatures, etc. I was unable to paint leisurely, instead painting with an urgency to finish the work before my fingers were too cold to hold the brush and my palette covered by falling snow. These paintings tell a story of the effects of cold weather on this medium—from the stary patterns created by snow to ice formations embedded in the freezing pigments.
Interactive Seaweed Installation
Fjöru Lína is created to change and shift, like seaweed washed on the shore—a visual reminder of the constant flux and movement of the ocean. This fluid and changing work contains small, watercolour paintings of seaweed species I found along the coast of Iceland. The patterns and arrangements of historic botanical illustrations also informed the development of this work as it explores the human desire to organize, re-arrange, group together and compartmentalize nature.
For more information about this exhibition please watch the artist talk video below or view arc.hive artist run centre’s exhibition page here. Thank you!
Natasha van Netten 