A Whimsical Exhibition in Chelsea Spotlights Nature and Technology

Curator Natasha Schlesinger with gallery members. Photo: Courtesy of Unix

A group exhibition at Unix Gallery in Chelsea spotlights the beauty of the natural world as well as the serious environmental challenges it is facing right now.

“Climate change is real and human existence is at stake,” says the New York–based curator and art adviser Natasha Schlesinger, who is also the founder of a gallery guide app titled Art Muse. “The solution is at times both overwhelmingly impossible to achieve and right in front of us. What can anyone of us do to help? Can we perhaps take individual and collective small steps as well as inspire others around us to join in the efforts to heal this planet? Can we influence change and celebrate the natural treasures around us?”

Artists incorporated into the show, entitled “ManMade by Nature,” include Yorgo Alexopoulos, Jonny Detiger, Norbert Brunner, Vanessa Harden, Stephanie Hirsch, Jessica Lichtenstein, Zheng Lu, Jason Middlebrook, Tatyana Murray, Jonathan Paul, and Christian Voigt. “ManMade by Nature” is Schlesinger’s attempt to engage artists looking at nature through the lens of technology “and its potential to save rather than destroy.” The exhibition also proposes how “to represent nature through the use of technology whether that means using materials, process, or calling attention to the subject itself.”

Here, a look at some of the works in the exhibition, which is on view at Unix Gallery through October 26.

Tatyana Murray’s trees of light materialize by drilling and etching the silhouettes on layers of glass that are lit from the back. They function as ethereal reminders of the fragility of nature. Photo: Courtesy of Unix Gallery

With Who’s Watching Who? (2019), Jessica Lichtenstein has created a virtual natural world incorporating the female body. Photo: Courtesy of Unix Gallery

Happiness Guranteed – Pink (2016) by Jonathan Paul (aka Desire Obtain Cherish) features inorganic, kinetic flowers powered by solar panels that move and react to the artwork’s embedded LED lights. Photo: Courtesy of Unix Gallery

Christian Voigt, Machu Piccu, Urubamba Providence | Peru, 2009. Voigt is known for his large-format photography, capturing extraordinary architecture and landscape. 

Photo: Courtesy of Unix Gallery

Norbert Brunner’s Nurture (Photo Dot Objects) (2017) invites the viewer into the forest, which he captured on his camera and then re-created through light and layers of glass and crystals. Photo: Courtesy of Unix Gallery