Curator Jeanne Gerrity gives an introduction to the themes explored in the debut exhibition at the new Wattis Institute galleries.

All This Soft Wild Buzzing considers the relationship between artists and the natural landscape through a lens of collaboration, of listening, and of reciprocity. Nature is often viewed as a neutral space, but landscape—with its connotations of ownership and control—is fraught. The sweeping vistas of early American landscape painting and photography promoted and perpetuated Manifest Destiny, and artists replicated a prevailing desire to conquer the land. In direct contrast to this earlier narrative, the contemporary artists in this exhibition hone in on details, incorporate organic materials into their process, and allow nature to exist.

All eight of the artists in the exhibition live, or have lived, in northern California, and their work resonates with the specificity of the Bay Area terrain and the people who inhabit it. The artists in the show engage with the effects of forest fires, the Land Back movement, the carceral system, belonging, climate change, and the resiliency of Indigenous life, among other topics. Landscape is exposed as a historical construct that is interrogated by a new generation of artists grappling with the relationship between humans and nature. In these works, the artists invite viewers to also consider site, place, and the land beneath and around them. 

About the Speaker:
Jeanne Gerrity is a curator, writer, and editor. She currently serves as the Deputy Director & Director of Programs at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco. Prior to the Wattis, she held positions at the Contemporary Jewish Museum and Southern Exposure in San Francisco, and Smack Mellon and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York. Jeanne is the founding co-editor of A Series of Open Questions and co-editor of Dodie Bellamy is on our mind and Cecilia Vicuña: Word Weapons. She has written for Artforum, Frieze, and Art Agenda among other magazines, and has contributed to museum and gallery catalogs. She has curated solo and group exhibitions in California and New York, as well as curating performances, screenings, conversations, and other public programs.