TERRAIN DALLAS

Bonny Leibowitz:
Super Unnatural

September 10 – October 8, 2022

OPENS: September 10, 2022 // 6–7:30pm

From September 10 – October 8 Terrain Dallas will host artist Bonny Leibowitz’s Super Unnatural. Leibowitz produces objects, installations and paintings utilizing a multitude of materials in ways that often disguise their origin, blurring the boundaries between the manufactured and the natural.

In her work, Leibowitz often draws from previous sculptural and two-dimensional works, reconfiguring ideas and forms to further explore her interest in deconstruction and transformation. The objects themselves are visceral with an earthly and bodily quality reminiscent of her visual influences in the paintings of Rubens, Bosch, and Goya. She uses both found natural forms like tree stumps and man-made materials to create works that question the boundary between the two. Her willingness to pull apart and reform these objects lies in her interest in impermanence and the evolving self. “I’m interested in the word “appearances” and the multifaceted concepts associated. It can be interpreted to mean an outward appearance – physically and psychologically – the identity we strive to be seen as associated with the time and energy we spend shaping our identity, imagining how others see us and as we hope to be seen. We attempt to control, maintain and present this solid identity which is fleeting and ever changing.”

Super Unnatural brings together a number of Leibowitz original sculptures to the site at Terrain Dallas. While a few of the objects maintain some of their original form, others have been manipulated for the installation, staying true to Leibowitz’s process of recontextualization and transformation. “Super Unnatural presents an opportunity to look at and uncover our personal truths by questioning what we see, our impulses, impressions and the conclusions we derive. I work with materials, in ways that often disguise or obliterate their origin or recontextualize as natural, when the opposite is true. I’m curious about what the mind comes up with, thoughts that create feelings, drives, impulses and urges continually running in the background. Habitual thoughts and behaviors can tend to limit our experiences. I like coming to my work and life with curiosity, letting go of the assumed and inviting new realities.” Leibowitz’s placement of the objects at the site of Terrain considers both the landscape and the objects, playing them against one another and perhaps confusing our initial interpretations.

Solo exhibitions of Leibowitz’s work include Baugh Center for the Visual Arts at Mary Hardin-Baylor University, Belton TX., No.4 Studio in Brooklyn, NY, The Neon Heater in Findlay, OH., Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas, TX, Art Cube Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA, The Museum of Art, Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX.,Cohn Drennan Contemporary in Dallas, TX. In 2020 Leibowitz created a conceptual installation series: The Visitation Project incorporating her work, digitally, into images of environments sent by invited artists from all over the world. Leibowitz’s work was featured in New American Paintings 2019 and she has participated in residencies with Judy Pfaff and Michael David culminating in group exhibitions in Brooklyn, NY at M. David & Co.www.bonnyleibowitz.com

Terrain Dallas
1122 Elmdale Pl,
Dallas, TX 75224

Viewing Hours: Seven days a week, daylight hours during exhibitions.”

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