Stephen Friedman Gallery
Art Basel 2017

For Art Basel 2017 Stephen Friedman Gallery will present a specially curated stand that explores different perspectives of nature and the landscape. This will include new work by Mamma Andersson, Juan Araujo, Andreas Eriksson and Luiz Zerbini. These painters depict the landscape of their native countries in different ways and in radically different styles, but each seek to explore the human relationship with their surroundings.

Part of the stand will be dedicated to Jim Hodges. This will include two new paintings that are inspired by ‘Old Growth' forests in Oregon. These are woodlands that have not undergone any man made changes for more than a hundred years and contain both young, mature and standing dead trees.These paintings are poignant musings on the beauty of seasonal change and passing of time, using delicate mark-making and soft tones to create an unabashed celebration of beauty and the transience of nature. By changing the orientation of the landscape, Hodges powerfully changes its meaning and the way the viewer interacts with it. This follows Hodges' exhibition at the gallery in 2016 which marked his return to painting.

Andreas Eriksson and Mamma Andersson explore the wild Nordic landscape, the former with abstract landscapes that often appear quiet and understated yet are belied by a poetry and deep-seated significance. Mamma Andersson' subject matter revolves around evocative landscapes and nondescript, private interiors that reference turn-of-the-century Nordic figurative painting, folk art, and local or contemporary vernacular. Juan Araujo and Luiz Zerbini both explore their relationship with Latin America. Zerbini uses a rich and luminous palette on a range of different subject matter from landscapes, cityscapes, and domestic scenes to those with a more obscure or even abstract intention. Araujo's work is dedicated to artistic appropriations, creating paintings which investigate the history of art by reproducing artists' work found in books, catalogues and online. From 2004 he has engaged with architectural topics, focusing primarily on private residences built in the mid-twentieth century which exemplify Latin American Modernism.