Running through May 23rd at Porch Gallery in Ojai, Shana Mabari’s new Oceans solo exhibition glows and shimmers like sun on the sea. Mabari previously presented artwork at the gallery that resulted from her NASA SOFIA space mission; the current exhibition is an outgrowth of her residency aboard Sea Shepherd Global off the coast of Africa.
Referencing the horizon, and its visually magical fusion with the sky, or depicting luminous sculptures evoking coral, her work evokes the light and ambiance of the sea, and its eliptical calling to humankind.
Mabari is the first artist-in-residence aboard on a Sea Shepherd Global maritime mission. The direct-action ocean conservation organization brought the artist on a five-day sailing off the west coast of Africa, in a clandestine effort to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the waters of Benin. The mission resulted in the arrest of of an illegally fishing trawler; and brought the inspiration for Oceans.
Mabari’s ethereally lovely sculptural works are created as two separate series within the exhibition. There are elongated cylinders of the “Korāl” sculptures, and her circular “Horizōn” pieces. Created from all acrylic material, the “Korāl” installation contains over 60 free-standing sculptures beteween 7″ and 14″ tall, in varied colors that range through a rainbow spectrum of red, blue, violet, yellow, and orange. These works were not only inspired by coral reefs, but positioned for exhibition as such as well, highlighting awareness of the coral reef devastation throughout the oceans, as well as their beauty underwater.
Her sculptural works in “Horizon” are wall-mounted. Eight, 15″ disks each contain a horizon line that recalls the meeting of sea and sky, and both that line’s call of exploration, and its use as a measurement tool by early mathematicians and astronomers.
Mabari has also created a new book featuring images of the “Koral” sculptures and essays about her Sea Shepherd residence, produced in collaboration with Sébastien Montabonel of the London-based Alaska Editions.
From the skies, flying aboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, to the seas on the Sea Shepherd mission, Mabari works to create comprehension of the vast and incomprehensible wonder of the world, and the risk that humans pose to it. Both as calls to action against ecological disaster, and as expressions of humankind’s connectivity to nature and the universe itself, Mabari’s work engages the spirit with her color, light, reflection, and form. Melding scientific inquiry – and it’s importance – with her art, Mabari offers viewers the chance to engage with sea and sky through her fluid geometric forms.
Ten-percent of the proceeds from exhibition sales will benefit Sea Shepherd Global. Gallery is located at 310 E. Matilija St., Ojai, CA 93023.
– Genie Davis, photos provided by Porch Gallery and the artist