Victoria Donohoe’s painting Untitled portrays a hilly landscape interrupted by aged buildings. Swatches of greens and blues engulf the structures and connect them to the surrounding scenery through color and form. A local artist and writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Donohoe creates an ambiguous setting through her omission of recognizable signage or scenery. These choices, along with her use of thick, geometrically layered brush strokes, abstract this landscape work from a specific place or time. This scene could just as easily be the French countryside a century ago or the Main Line in 2018. Donohoe’s color palette and technique transforms this seemingly simple landscape into an exploration of the interconnections between nature and the built environment. Her canvas invites reflection on humanity's complex relationship with the environment—ever-evolving through our relentless creation of man-made structures.

— Jackie Nathanson, VU student