Genesis Belanger, Hisham Bharoocha and Amy Lincoln present exciting new positions in contemporary art using compelling imagery inspired by nature. Their diverse approaches to the subject and unique visual languages include acrylic painting, mixed media sculpture, such as porcelain and concrete, as well as complex installation-based collage. With vivid imaginations Belanger, Bharcoocha and Lincoln mine the colors, textures and forms found in the environment around them. Their fascination with the rich metaphoric properties inherent in the natural world is transformed into panels and objects that remind the viewer of our precarious place in nature.

In her most recent and comprehensive body of work, Genesis Belanger has cast and shaped her objects using organic sources. The concrete totems are casts of different kinds of cacti; some installations include actual rocks she located. Inspired by the freedom of her summer studio in Vermont, these sculptures were created in and with the effects of the outside elements. Her fascination with combining disparate materials such as metal, silicone and porcelain create strange and hauntingly beautiful sculptures. Although Belanger chooses to work with heavy, masculine materials, her color choices and nuanced handling of the material demonstrate a more delicate sensibility. Because of their unnatural promotions and distributions of weight, her objects embody movement even when stationary. 

Hisham Bharoocha’s most recent work merges the concepts of psychology, stream of consciousness, vibrant color, and musical experience. The techniques Hisham employs include photography, painting, music, collage, installations, and drawings. Coming from a background in the experimental underground music scene, as well as his examination of richly international geography, cultures and artistic styles, Bharoocha’s work has a feeling of both harmony and complexity. There is a lushness to his colorful compositions that read like thought patterns and are reminiscent of Hindu illustrations; however he blurs this affiliation by including environmental themes that have a closer relationship to Japanese wood cuts.

Amy Lincoln paints nearly surreal color palettes of tropical foliage, still life, and portraiture. Based in Brooklyn, her color palettes aren’t drawn from direct experiences with exotic plants, but gathered from google searches, drawings, and photography. This method creates many layers in the reading of her work. Each flower, zebra or cactus appears to exist in a separate space, allowing for the contemplation of individual elements of the painting within her very dynamic compositions. Amy creates her own imagined picture planes that heighten our sense of wonder when engaging with her paintings; she uses a vibrant, tropical color palette and stylistic elements reminiscent of artists like Gauguin, and makes them distinctly beautiful.