Selection of works by Madeleine Dietz, Perla Krauze, Marion Reis, and Regine Schumann

February 16–June 1, 2017

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." -Henry David Thoreau

The renewal of the earth is the natural change which gives to each of us hope. It is the realignment of particles from which new life emerges. And light, in its inherent prismatic diffusion, is uplifting in its energy and in the spectrum of colors it offers. We are grounded by one and released by the other, and both, working together, speak to us of the profound unity of the forces we call nature.

Madeleine Dietz (born in Germany in 1953) recounts, “Earth you are, and to earth you shall return.” Earth is the matter from which living things grow. Life is inherent within it and her work explores earth in various shapes and states, including cracked surfaces. By enclosing varying earth forms within steel, she creates a tension between the change inherent in nature and the order and control of static steel.

Perla Krauze (born in Mexico in 1953) uses found natural objects such as stone, rocks, and sticks and preserves them by casting them in resin or aluminum. She captures the visible marks of our lives, a crack in the sidewalk, a fissure in a wall, and brings to our attention the rather ordinary we take for granted, and often rarely see. Cast in colored resin, her stones and cubes provide a dialogue with light and nature inviting us into a quiet and contemplative journey.

Mario Reis (born in Germany, 1953) is wonderfully organic in his medium and process as he collaborates with nature. His works are nature’s watercolors and capture the essence of the river itself which paints its own image. He places a blank stretched canvas on the shallow waters of a riverbed and waits for the fabric to collect sediment. Carefully retrieving the canvas, the sediment is allowed to dry and is submerged into an acrylic-acetate solution to preserve the natural pigments and the canvas. His river paintings capture the natural force and patterns only the water can leave behind.

Regine Schumann (born in Germany in 1961) explores color, light, and form in her constructions using fluorescent Plexiglas, plastic light cords and, occasionally a black light. Her objects are luminous and captivating, reflecting natural light and atmospheric changes. Contained in simple geometric forms, they come together reflecting a diverse layering of energy and the shifting of the perception of space. Space becomes new in the ever changing energy of light.

Curated by Sally Reynolds

In cooperation with Gallery Sonja Roesch, Houston

Photographs by Dawn Baxter