- Venue
- That Art Gallery
- Starts
- Thursday, August 31, 2017
- Ends
- Saturday, September 23, 2017
- Address
- 17 Christmas Steps, Bristol, BS1 5BS
- Location
- South West England
- Organiser
- That Art Gallery
We do not love nature because it’s beautiful, we find beauty in nature because we are part of it and it’s part of us.
While we search for new planets and look outwards to the vast mystery of space we seem to have overlooked parts of our own world. We regularly disregard incredibly beautiful and complex forms of life here on planet Earth. As our culture becomes increasingly urbanised humans seem to have become less connected with the forces and elements that sustain them.
Planet Earth or perhaps Planet Water, as it should be called (as it’s 71% liquid) is unique in the known universe. As far as we can see, we are the only planet harbouring life, and yet we, at the top of the food chain have a talent for destroying not only the species but also their habitats. The oceans dominate; A force unto itself, where life started, it remains largely unexplored (we are only able to visit a mere 10% of the oceans). The oceans of the world are a shadow of their former selves, full of waste and severely diminished of resources. Due to over fishing and pollution there are now only 1% of the fish there should be (or once was). It seems more than ever we need to be protecting and preserving this dangerously fragile habitat.
The art of Lily Mixe gives a voice to this suffocating nature in our modern society. Subtle and delicate studies of alien species that live with us on our very own other-world. Lily seems to labour under each detail, glorifying their forms, patterns and structures, attempting to capture their majesty by meditating upon their beauty and evolution.
The works shift around an array of found objects and surfaces, drawn, painted and collaged. An almost obsessive compulsion sees Lily’s love for her subjects spill into hours of careful rendering. Lily gives her creations time, consideration, love and a life of their own. Echoes of past explorers, artists, biologists and scientists mixed carefully in a personal collection in which we are invited to explore and get a little lost. A modern day cabinet of curiosity that demands us to look deeper at the natural world, one that we are in grave danger of losing sight of.
“Look deeper into nature and you will understand everything better” Albert Einstein
