A tent of wet cement appears to either disgorge or swallow a lush spill of mosses in Brazilian artist Thiago Rocha Pitta’s ‘The First Green,’ an installation at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea. Though the scene appears to be a static standoff between the survival of man or nature, Rocha Pitta avoids thinking in binaries. On the wall, frescos resemble ancient microorganisms performing photosynthesis, producing oxygen, and continuing a process that has gone on for billions of years. (On view through April 29th).
Thiago Rocha Pitta, installation view of ‘The First Green’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery, April, 2017.
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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