Humans have a predetermined aesthetic preference for nature. It is an evolutionary remnant. But the formal, conceptual, emotional relationship between urbanites and nature is fraught with contradictions. These contradictions are the inspiration for Andrea Bersaglieri’s Artist-in-residence exhibition, te(r)ra desideratum, at Shoebox Projects, May 27 to June 16.

The trees, the shrubs and grasses, were nearly all planted here by someone in an attempt to simulate the ideal savannah. We know that, but their presence still stirs our ingrained unshakable appreciation of the aesthetic. They have become our “substitute nature”. The context in which we experience nature seems to amplify its importance. The mundane frameworks within which nature manages to exists here concentrates its beauty and power.

Going from tree to plant to weed to soil looking for, looking at, trying to understand. Bersaglieri uses traditional observational drawing methods in an effort to record this evolution and understand it.

Please join us for the closing reception of te(r)ra desideratum on June 16, 3-6pm.