Meanwhile, a few feet away from you
- August 30, 2022 - January 28, 2023
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is proud to present Meanwhile, a few feet away from you, an exhibition by Las Vegas artist Nanda Sharifpour. Sharifpour’s recent practice has focused on the role that plants play in contemporary society, positioning them both as metaphorical presences and as beings in their own right. In Meanwhile, a few feet away from you she uses our fascination with on-screen imagery “to drag attention towards the simple natural elements we pass by in our everyday lives.”
The viewer looks through the glass front of the Museum’s outdoor Window Gallery and sees an image of tree branches livestreamed on a screen. The real tree is growing in the Donald H. Baepler Xeric Garden only a few feet away. Dozens of other branches are close by, alive with detail. Will the viewer take the time to look at them? Or will they be distracted by the visual echo on the monitor?
“Contemporary human society seems to pay special attention as soon as something is on the screen,” Sharifpour says. By referring to the mass of branches as a “readymade, this time by nature” she repurposes a term first used by conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp, switching the focus from Duchamp’s “readymade” factory-produced products to the infinite variety of the natural world around her. Setting aside the steadiness of manufactured metal and plastic, the artist opens her installation up to the vagaries of wind, rain, and sunshine. “I would like to consider my work a collaboration with nature,” she says.
Meanwhile, a few feet away from you will be on view at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV from August 30th, 2022 - January 28th, 2023, with an opening reception on September 2nd. Entry to the Museum is free. Masks are recommended.
All of the museum’s galleries are accessible to wheelchair users and other visitors who cannot use stairs. Services such as sign language interpretation can be arranged.
About the Artist:
Nanda Sharifpour is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Las Vegas. Nature itself, and the relationship between contemporary humanity and nature, are among her main subjects. Born in Tehran, Iran, she holds a B.A. in Graphic Design and two M.F.A. degrees, one from Azad University of Art and Architecture in Tehran (2006), and the other from University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2019). Sharifpour and her husband Ali Fathollahi moved to the United States in 2012 as refugees. Since then, they have participated in numerous public and private art projects throughout Southern Nevada. Sharifpour has exhibited her work in over forty-five group and solo exhibitions across the United States, Turkey, and Iran.