Love Me, Build Me, Destroy Me: Three artists reflect
on the sublime
Sydney Croskery, Jennifer Gunlock, and Molly Segal
Curated by Mario D. Vasquez
PostLA@MiM Gallery
4654 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016-1743
Opening Reception: July 17, 2019; 7pm to 9pm
The idea of the sublime has confounded and enthralled
artists, writers, and poets for at least 200 years. The idea that nature
overcomes man, or man is in conflict with nature is a theme that is central to
the sublime.
Edmund Burke stated, “Whatever is fitted in any sort to
excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort
terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner
analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of
the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. I say the strongest
emotion, because I am satisfied the ideas of pain are much more powerful than
those which enter on the part of pleasure. Without all doubt, the torments
which we may be made to suffer are much greater in their effect on the body and
mind, than any pleasure which the most learned voluptuary could suggest, or
than the liveliest imagination, and the most sound and exquisitely sensible
body, could enjoy.” Burke, Edmund. “Of the Sublime”
Immanuel Kant states that “Whereas the beautiful is limited,
the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime,
attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in
contemplating the immensity of the attempt” Immanuel Kant, “Critique of Pure
Reason.”
The 19th century American painter Thomas Cole
explored the sublime by creating a narrative around the rise and fall of
civilization. Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire was comprised of three
works; “The Savage State; The Arcadian or Pastoral State,” “The Consummation of
Empire; Destruction” and “Desolation.” Taking a cue from “Course of Empire,” “Love
Me, Build Me, Destroy Me” reflects on the contemporary sublime by exploring the
relationship between nature and humans, which changes from love and beauty, the
development of the land by way of building, and to the eventual destruction by
folly. The contemporary sublime is concerned with man’s destruction of nature
and its continuing consequences. The three artists in this exhibition, Sydney
Croskery, Jennifer Gunlock and Molly Segal, explore each of these aspects.
Sydney Croskery explores the idea of the contemporary
overwhelm by studying both beauty and banality of objects in natural and
industrialized realms. The use of interspersed and grouped paintings creates a
subjective landscape where fragments become almost dream-like vision of the
land and nature. When looking at Croskery’s works, the loss of nature becomes
terrifying and tragic.
Jennifer Gunlock portrays the build environments that
populate the landscape. Gunlock’s man-made structures take over the landscape
as human’s turn on nature and assert their dominance. Structures replace the
natural and as the natural is lost.
Molly Segal foresees that nature is left in ruins, as nature
goes from beauty to that of dystopia. Segal’s landscapes are populated by oil
pumps, carnival rides and ruins as if man’s folly is reflected. Segal’s depicts
the results of neglect and degradation of the environment as nature is
destroyed.
The sublime becomes overwhelming as a man’s affiliation with
nature and beauty goes from love to arrogance to the ultimate destruction of
nature and thus, leaving nature in ruins. It is the idea of the 19th
century in reverse where man is overwhelmed by man rather it being overwhelmed
by nature.
Mario Vasquez is a blogger, independent curator and art
critic based in Los Angeles.
Artists Bios
Sydney Croskery
Sydney Croskery is a third generation Los Angeleno, who
lives and works in Los Angeles. Her work generally is about society, over
stimulation, and consumption. She has participated in shows at Charlie James
Gallery, the Fellows of Contemporary Art, Raid Projects, LACE, Angles Gallery,
and Jack Tilton Gallery. She has also participated in shows at the Getty
Museum, The Torrance Art Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the
Riverside Museum. She is a member of the LA Art Girls and is one-half of the
World Famous Wiener Girls of Chicago. Croskery is a recipient of the
Pollock-Krasner Grant for 2018.
Jennifer Gunlock
Based in Long Beach, CA, Gunlock has received a BA in Fine
Art at California Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1998 and an MFA at
California State University, Long Beach in 2003. She has exhibited nationally
and in local venues such as Sturt Haaga Gallery at Descanso Gardens, Los
Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Launch LA, and Angels Gate Cultural Center. She
has been Artist in Residence at Playa in Summer Lake, Oregon; Shoebox Projects
in Los Angeles; Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in Saratoga, Wyoming; and
at the Pajama Factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In 2014-15 Gunlock
participated in in “Fires of Change,” an NEA-funded collaboration between
artists and scientists, to translate the social and ecological issues
surrounding wildfire in the Southwest. Following a fire science bootcamp in the
Grand Canyon, and a year to complete a project, a group exhibition opened at
Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona in September 2015 and
traveled to the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson and 516 Arts in
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Molly Segal
Segal was born and raised in Oakland, CA. She received a MFA from The School of Museum
of Fine Arts in Boston, MA. Her paintings have recently appeared in group
exhibitions at Northeastern University Gallery 360, Charlie James Gallery,
PØST, Zevitas Marcus, and BLAM. She has contributed to publications such as
Full Blede, Venison Quarterly, Reflections of The Burden of Men, and Lapham’s
Quarterly. She was an artist in residence at the Virginia Center for Creative
Arts in 2017 and the Vermont Studio Center in 2018. Segal currently lives and
works in Los Angeles, CA.
Jennifer Gunlock
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| Jennifer Gunlock |
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| Sydney Croskery |
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| Molly Segal |
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| Molly Segal |
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| Molly Segal |
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| Jennifer Gunlock |
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| Molly Segal |
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| Installation View |
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| (left to right) Sydney Croskery and Molly Segal |
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| Sydney Croskery |
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| Sydney Croskery |
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| Installation View |
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| Sydney Croskery |
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| Sydney Croskery |
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| Molly Segal |
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| Molly Segal |
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| Jennifer Gunlock |
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| Installation View |
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| Sydney Croskery |
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| Jennifer Gunlock |
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| Installation View at Opening Reception |
