Muffin Bernstein and Vicki Hunt
December 10-31, 2013
Opening: Saturday, Dec 14, 6-8pm
In conjunction with PhotoNOLA 2013 Satsuma will show selections from Muffin Bernstein’s Mandelas and Vicki Hunt’s The Alternative South.
Muffin Bernstein: Mandalas
Muffin turned to 17th century Tibet to find, through mandalas, profound religious and spiritual meaning. This is a singular and beautiful choice, especially if it originates from contemporary metropolitan, deeply provincial or tornado-ridden America. In particular, the Katrina hurricane, that devastated Muffin Bernstein’s New Orleans in 2005, where she did all she could to help, and decided from that moment on to make nature the sole subject of her art. Cruel nature, which destroys without mercy, yet also nature which palpitates and comforts, vibrates beauty and radiates serenity. The artist’s biography – amongst other things, she suffered an apartment fire that destroyed all her artworks and belongings – helps us to understand the seriousness and coherence of her artistic motivation: this is not transient, as it is for so many others, but strong, especially in moral terms, on the human level. Flowers, plants, green is always the predominant color in the mandalas printed on canvas, Bernstein feels she is part of a whole: of the environment, made up of vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms, as of the human community, to which she belongs as a participant. In a world of unbridled individualism, it is nice to find an artist concertedly seeking harmony in her creations and for her artistic talent to involve a civic and social undertaking.
Vicki Hunt: The Alternative South
Who can truly capture the south in a picture? This is my attempt to show the richness of the land, the beauty of the architecture, and the warmth of the people who call it home. I also offer up the “dirty south” which shows less than ideal living conditions and the great needs of many Southerners. The spirituality of the south exudes from every corner and is passionately displayed throughout the region.
