The Boyle Family at Luhring Augustine Gallery

In their first New York solo show in 40 years, the Boyle Family (father Robert Boyle, mother Joan Hills and their adult children Sebastian and Georgia Boyle) considers relationships between humans and the environment with wall mounted mini-landscapes.  Meticulous recreations of sites chosen at random, each ‘earthprobe’ is a recreation of a segment of the earth’s surface in an urban or rural area.  How to interpret these slices of mediated reality?  The Boyles explain that they want to consider whether it’s possible to look at the earth and not think of ‘myths and legends, art of the past or present, art and myths of other cultures.’ Thankfully, it seems it is not, as each will prompt historical connections and personal memories. (On view at Luhring Augustine in Chelsea through April 24th).

The Boyle Family, Kerb Study with Filled in Basement Lights and Cobbles, Westminster Series, mixed media, resin, fiberglass, C 66 x 66 inches, 1987