We will be here always | signs and symbols
The girl is surrounded by the elements of the garden/CV, 2023
Pigment print on Hahnemühle paper with silver gelatin photograph and archival ink, framed with museum glass 17 x 12.25 inches (43.2 x 31.1 cm) framed. Unique
Written by Max Wiener
A landscape photograph has the unmatched ability to transport you into a different dimension, it can take you from the cold halls of a gallery into the landscapes of your dreams. The great artists - photographers especially - offer you a one-way ticket to an untouched world, where you as the viewer, explore it alone for the very first time. German artist Ornella Fieres somehow subverts this traditional narrative and creates a league of her own, taking you on an artistic journey unlike anything that has previously been experienced. We will all be here always, her third solo exhibition with New York’s Signs and Symbols gallery, is the old world mixed with the new. With classic imagery and AI merging together to create one of the most unique viewing experiences offered in the modern art world. The crisp charm of Fieres’ world helped usher in the beginning of fall, having opened on September 6. The series is scheduled to close on October 14th, giving patrons a limited time to enjoy the unmistakable breadth of an Ornella Fieres exhibition.
Elegance of Unconcern, 2023
Two channel color video installation, RT 5:35
The process of constructing the art for We will all be here always is an interesting one, and such a process is a testament to Fieres’ true talent. At the core of the exhibition is a found-photo album of a 19th-century Brazilian family, whose rich family tapestry is interwoven with the modern landscapes of Fieres’ world. The nature is so grand that it feels like the set of default Macbook screensavers. The details, from the fog to the crevasses to the trees paints a stunning picture that render you motionless. But it is this intersection of the old and the new that makes it an unforgettable spectacle of the creative mind. The landscapes are all AI-generated - the new modern - and in between this comes the innocence of this Brazilian family, unaware of the technologies taking advantage of them. They instantly become a part of the conversation.
The river runs through the middle of the image/CV, 2023 Pigment print on Hahnemühle paper with silver gelatin photograph and archival ink, framed with museum glass 17 x 12.25 inches (43.2 x 31.1 cm) framed, Unique
We will all be here always is an interesting selection to add to the arguments about AI art and its legitimacy. In this instance, the overlap of traditional photography with the aid of AI is incredibly beneficial to not just the exhibition, but to the medium as a whole. Fieres’ words, spliced in the images, is the modern voice speaking to the past, informing them of the advancements and the progression of society. It’s almost as if she time travels and lets us watch, and each work in the series is a new story being told. However, it also serves as a reminder that the natural world experienced and enjoyed by the Brazilian family is dwindling, and the modern world we have today is as well. Let us use Ornella Fieres as a reminder that our world is finite. We should enjoy it and preserve it while we still have the chance. Our lives depend upon it.
