Caring for Nature is Caring for Ourselves

Exhibition: Caring for Nature is Caring for Ourselves

The exhibition "Caring for Nature is Caring for Ourselves" is a virtual art showcase featuring 19 artists of various nationalities who have explored the central theme using their preferred techniques. This theme leads us to a deep reflection on the importance of caring for nature, the role it plays in our lives, and the way it provides us with well-being, sustenance, and the possibility of survival.

The artists participating in this exhibition are: Lenny Khimishman (USA), Igor Dubovoy (Russia), Vitaliy Gonikman (USA), Evgenia Klimenko (Ukraine), Geanina M. Zaharia (United States), Bogdan U. (Romania), Alexander Kusenko (Ukraine), Corton (Argentina), Péter Szilágyi (Hungary), Cosmina M Oltean (Romania), Nina Litvin (Israel), Zaplaflora (Cuba), Emanuel Sansana (Brazil), Svetlana Stovba (Ukraine), TRAXI (Bulgaria), Elena Zapassky (Israel), Monacuba (Russia), Lidia Fraquelli (Argentina), Leonid Slutsker (USA). Some of them currently reside in different cities across the United States.

In this exhibition, a wide variety of artistic techniques can be appreciated, such as acrylic painting, oil, photography, ink drawing, pastel, and others. Visitors will find landscape depictions, works portraying animals, as well as abstract, surrealist, figurative, impressionist, and abstractionist pieces, among other genres.

Some works evoke the artists' memories related to nature, scenes from movies, or family moments; others symbolize their vision of the connection between nature and human beings, and some offer a reflection on topics such as animal extinction or the conservation of the natural environment.

In the case of "Protected Tree" by Péter Szilágyi, the artist depicts a woman painting, with a tree in the foreground. Through this, he explores the symbiotic relationship between the artist and the natural world, as well as the humility we must have before the grandeur of nature. For him, painting is not only about caring, but also about observing and documenting in our collective memory to ensure the survival of what is depicted—in this case, the tree.

Meanwhile, Zaplaflora, in their work "Four / My Flowery Planet," portrays four human faces, each placed in one of the four corners of the canvas, symbolizing humanity divided into its four facets: body, soul, mind, and spirit. In the center, a profusely flowered world is perceived, symbolizing nature, interconnected with the breath of these four figures.

In this painting, the profusion of classical and innovative symbols plays a leading role, and the work's central idea highlights them. Everything is an invitation to humanity to preserve nature in exchange for its gifts, generosity, and abundance, because only then, according to the artist's own explanation, will we be caring for ourselves.

And Svetlana Stovba, in her work "Happiness," shares its meaning with us:

"The rocks are softly wrapped in clouds, the sun slowly sinks toward dusk. Everything seems mysterious, deep. As is everything in our world. We approach beauty, we draw near, yet all of it resides within us—that fascinating and tender grace, that fairy-tale kingdom. This is all what we call happiness!"

María Alejandra Herrera