Two tiny backpackers could almost go unnoticed in the bottom center of this photograph by Victoria Sambunaris, on view at Yancey Richardson Gallery, if Sambunaris had not framed them so carefully on the curving pathway of Death Valley National Park from her vantage point above. Though dwarfed by natural surrounds, human presence is unmissable in the artist’s new work focusing on the California desert. Expecting to encounter these landscapes as wastelands, Sambunaris instead witnessed all manner of human activity from camping caravans to dune buggy riding, made all the more attractive during the pandemic, when she traveled to make this body of work. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 18th).
Victoria Sambunaris, Untitled, (Zabriskie Point), Death Valley National Park, California, 2021. Chromogenic print, 39 x 55 inches.
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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