TRANSPLANTS is an exhibition by Los Angeles artist Jennifer Gunlock that reflects on the ever present alteration of our wildlands due to human manipulation, whether through clear-cutting and construction, imposed infrastructure, or the removal, relocation, and domestication of plants and animals. By employing collage, drawing, and video animation, Gunlock constructs landscapes that comment on our direct impact on the environment, and reveals Earth’s interminable shapeshifting over its long life.

As the title implies, this exhibition of work by Los Angeles artist Jennifer Gunlock (b. 1972) reflects on the ever-present alteration of our wildlands due to human manipulation, whether through clear-cutting and construction, imposed infrastructure, or the removal, relocation, and domestication of plants and animals. Intentionally introduced plants, like Australian eucalyptus trees (planted in California in the late 19th century to act as wind breaks) and now aging one hundred-year-old Mexican fan palms (planted to fulfill Westerner’s fantasies of oriental exoticism) often contribute to the destruction of their adopted habitats, like adding fuel to wildfires. Growing up in the suburbs of Southern California, over the decades Gunlock observed her local wildland being replaced with houses and strip malls, and the towers of Downtown Los Angeles sprouting upward and growing denser like weeds after a wet winter. Her region’s dry climate, recurring droughts and recent floods, and increase in wildfire superstorms are her immediate experiences pertaining to the global issue of climate change, and how that acceleration of the change is a direct result of human impact. By incorporating photographs taken on her travels with decorative papers and colored pencil—as well as digitally collaged into video animations—Gunlock constructs landscapes that are marked by infrastructure such as mines, oil wells, cell phone towers disguised as trees, and buildings for habitation. The work not only comments on our direct impact on the environment, but it also reflects on Earth’s interminable shapeshifting over the long period of its existence. Below is a link to a brief snapshot of two videos the artist made related to this body of work reflecting on the Los Angeles River, which will be included in the exhibition "OUR RIVER: Floodplain and Future" at Shatto Gallery in LA that features Jennifer Gunlock. The videos are portraits of two wetland habitats along the river: Long Beach and Elysian Valley; and the videos draw attention to the variety of bird species that inhabits each location, a history of oil drilling along the river, and the river of commerce that flows along the LA basin. View these video works at: https://youtu.be/5yu_T9N5mgk?si=2SAHnKYBIJyqm9tc For a virtual view of this exhibition, click here now: https://bit.ly/44Lqxcr View the TRANSPLANTS exhibition on ARTSY at: https://bit.ly/3SPdLlP