Terra Nostra Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: March 2nd to April 27th, 2018

Opening Reception: March 9th, 6 PM

The work of Cow House Studios Co-Director Frank Abruzzese is featured in Terra Nostra, the most recent exhibition Situated in the Wexford County Buildings. The exhibition is curated by Karla Sanchez and presented by the Arts Department of Wexford County Council. Terra Nostra explores landscape (memory, imagination, perception) and the relationships we have to land, featuring the work of six artists including Frank Abruzzese, Karl Burke, Laura Fitzgerald, Paul Gaffney, Hanneke van Ryswyk and Gerda Teljeur and presents highlights from the extensive Art Collection of Wexford County Council.

“Myth, storytelling, pop culture, television and cinema, institutional discourse, all influence heavily how we perceive and imagine landscape. The role that imagination plays in our relationship to the land is fundamental. How we perceive the land to be, how we would like it to be, how we think others see it. In the very act of looking, we are already applying what we know, what we imagine and what we aspire to; we are constantly engaged in the act of framing.” -Karla Sanchez

The image above is comprised of the two images featured in this exhibition. They are taken from the same location beside the Poolbeg Lighthouse, Dublin looking out to the horizon. Large ferries and ships carrying containers of goods from around the world can be seen entering and exiting to the left of the frame. In both, the water itself takes on different material qualities while the ships leave traces of their path at night or become trapped in a single colour channel by day, artefacts of different processes explored through the series Sea Level and Live Load respectively, calling attention to global systems of commerce, making visible seemingly ephemeral paths of distribution.