Mara Haseltine made it tremendously clear that there is a need for a scientific approach to art.
But it is important to know that scientific art doesn’t have to come in the form of geometry or fractals or notation, algorithms or statements. For Mara, that would be too simple. That doesn’t address anything. Perhaps the greatest rift within the art community is the creation of work that serves minimal purpose beyond being pleasing to the eye versus the creation of work that provides a function. For Mara, it’s about the potential. Where can this art go? What can this art do? It’s not quite industrial design – it’s far more organic and based in nature; in fact, it acts in protest of the built world addressing it head on. But it’s not practical art either, because Mara’s art becomes a part of time and history. If it comes off as a strictly trying to make a point – chastising the viewer for existing in and supporting an unsustainable world, the viewer is missing the point. Mara’s work still has a very real physicality, and could be seen as impractical in the way it uses space, but the work came into being naturally, and can cease being natural as well. Mara’s attention to the evolutionary degree of this art makes it different. It’s sustainable art. It can be polished in a museum daily, or it can be tossed, but either way, it’ll wither gracefully and naturally.
Mara spends a lot of time near water, on the shore, and in the studio. The location of her studio couldn’t be better: a waterfront aerie on the 6th floor of a Brooklyn building. It’s a corner space with head-on views of the East River and Manhattan beyond. For her show, the front room was an installation for her multifaceted “La Bohème: Portrait of Our Oceans in Peril” series. In this, Mara explores the significance of plankton and other creatures, all of which are immensely important in regulating the earth’s atmosphere, plankton in particular. Her exploration of the Chilean coast revealed the reality of the plankton – a disappointing interaction of human material waste had taken place. How can an artist show this fact without being overtly activist and concerned? This is where Mara’s genius takes center-stage. Using the very problem she saw in her studies, she re-appropriates everything in her art- the color scheme of the degraded plastic, the plastic its self and its associated materials- and the plankton’s characteristic shape to create a series of strangling sculptures- emotive pieces that mix the man-made with the natural. Along with this, a preview for the film “La Bohème: A Portrait of Today’s Oceans” was shown. The original “La Bohème” depicted the poor young poet Rodolfo, who falls in love with Mimi, a young girl who is dying of consumption. In this case, Mimi is the plankton , the sculpture ensnared in plastic. The film was co-directed by Imagine Science Films’ Alexis Gambis and features a performance by Joseph Bartning among the works. Other works in the series include “The Ravenous Ctenephores”- a sinewy, suspended piece with long tenticles. It has a magical, distant air to it. It’s Mara’s way to bring the distant mystery of the ocean to an approachable level for viewers.
In the front room, where the La “Bohème” series was being shown under black light, there is a palpable sense of toxicity, darkness and uncertainty. In the back room, however, things are bit more optimistic and hopeful for the future, with warm lighting and a exploratory feel.
It is in this back portion we see a delightful and encompassing selection of Mara’s works-in-progress and past work. Mara’s involvement in the Geotherapy Institute cannot be ignored. Her contributions have been large-scale, beautiful and functional works that further the concept of geotherapy – an effort to restore and repair the aquatic world. Perhaps most impressive is the Gill Reef, a massive and elegant system that ultimately will act as a filter for the ocean. Inspired by the passive, filtering nature of an oyster gill, the work will ultimately lead to a fully functioning reef where there was none. The scale of the Gill Reef is immense, and it’s not the only work the Mara has done that plays with scale. In her work, microscopic proteins and DNA strands are blown up to large-scale sculptures, it’s another way Mara shows appreciation for the little things in life – and the power of the sum of their parts.
Mara’s Tintinnid Champagne Glasses are glowing, functional flutes inspired by tintinnid plankton she observed while on the sea. They usher in a slightly more playful side of Mara’s work, a little less serious, but just as sustainable and thoughtful. SARS Inhibited (2006) is a bronze sculpture that stands in the central plaza of the science city Biopolis, Singapore. It’s a delightfully sleek piece that sits in a reflecting pool and a reminder of the power of science.
Mara regrettably will be leaving the Brooklyn space after spending seven years there, but will continue her ecologically invested art. You can follow here here: http://www.calamara.com
-Benjamin Schmidt
