January 10 — February 24, 2018

Opening Reception: Thursday, January 11, 6pm—8pm

Klompching Gallery is delighted to present new work by Lisa M. Robinson. Terrestra is seven years in the making, and continues the artist’s deep-seated reverence for the natural landscape.

In this new and breathtaking series of photographs, the artist has turned her attention to the vast deserts of the American Southwest. Taking as her conceptual compass—the desert as a remnant seabed—Robinson makes visible the normally imperceptible passage of time. Rather than re-present the terrain as a vast expanse of space, the artist is drawn to the intimacies that bear witness to geological transformation, brought about by the movement of water and also of drought.

For Robinson, “there is a subtle tension between what is present, and what cannot be seen or touched.” She likens this on a micro level to the human body—organs, cells, atoms—and on a macro level to the cosmos. Clearly, Terrestra is a highly personal project, one in which the artist conveys the presence of the past in geological formations; that speak to her of the constant flux of life cycles, and point also to the alchemical aspects of the land.

These outstanding new photographs follow in the footsteps of Robinson’s critically-acclaimed Snowbound and Oceana series, where she began her conceptual and artistic exploration of the landscape, in relation to the ebb and flow of climatic change and man’s relationship to it. Terrestra’s release is timely, coinciding with renewed concern and debate about the fragility of our natural habitat.

The exhibition features nine large-scale color photographs, depicting geological specimens in varying forms of abstraction, as well as pulled-back views of desert landscapes, marked by the traces of centuries-old evidence of vast seas and the movement of water.

Lisa M. Robinson (b. 1968) graduated cum laude from Columbia University and received her MFA in Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her photographs have been exhibited across the US and internationally. Robinson's first monograph, Snowbound, was published by Kehrer Verlag in 2007. Collections holding her work include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Portland Art Museum, Nevada Museum of Art, Ogden Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Art, Houston. Lisa M. Robinson lives and works in Tucson, Arizona. 

The exhibition will open with an Opening Reception on Thursday, January 11th, 6pm–8pm. The artist is available for interviews upon request. All press and image requests should be addressed to Darren Ching at darren@klompching.com or +1 212 796 2070