The Pleasure and the Terror: An Exhibition of Landscape

Edited by Melinda Wortz
Published by © 1990 University Art Gallery, UC Irvine

The context of this show suggests a movement away from the abstract and a return to more figurative forms of representation.  Attempting to define society beyond functional survival, Lynn Aldrich and Richard Sedivy collaborate different media to communicate humanity's relationship with nature.  Aldrich’s Sculpture Found While Seeking Landscape presents a resin-coated salt lick confined in plexiglass and on a pedestal.  This piece explores the historical function of salt as a food preservative and therefore a life sustaining treasure to humanity that has been reduced to a substance abused by humanity.  Landscapes in the works symbolically function as space forgotten by society.  The house-like structures he inserts into the scenery are rigid, isolated, and seemingly floating.  Strong yet uninviting, these constructions allude to Sedivy’s interest in the memory and serve as a symbol for living experiences.  Reconstructing elements of reality and society in contrast and relation to nature, these two artists attempt to resurrect landscape.