NEW YORK — Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice, in conjunction with the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, announces Meghan Arlen’s exhibit, “Obscured Geographies,” her first show at a major New York gallery.
The work currently on exhibit was born out of the artist’s curiosity about land use and the monumental changes observed in the span of just one or two generations. Arlen was struck by the new and often surreal aerial geographies created by landscape alterations brought about by modern industrial agricultural farming, natural gas extraction, and large-scale residential developments. These changes of course are now visible to all simply by using Google Earth, or from the seat of a passenger airplane flying overhead.
Arlen’s uneasiness about the large-scale processes that have produced these unnatural landscapes were at odds with the awe she felt about the eerily beautiful curves, colors, and compositions they created.
This collection of work — textural explorations of obscured aerial landforms — plays with movement and tactility. “Obscured Geographies” is also an ode to the medium of Venetian plaster and Arlen’s desire to use this material in new and creative ways.
To observe the interplay of plaster with other materials, she incorporates charcoal, liquid iron, copper paint, gauze, fabric and other found textured and corrugated media. The results are beautifully intricate and wholly original.
Based in Brooklyn, Meghan Arlen studied fine arts as an undergraduate but has in recent years focused her energy on learning skilled trades. These include Venetian wall plaster application techniques, high-end interior design, specialty installation and fabrication, and building sculptural wood furniture.
