A Conversation with Artist Amadour on Wildflowers and Birds

About

Gladys Tamez is pleased to announce Wildflowers & Birds, a solo exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Amadour, on view through September 23, 2022. This new work centers around ecology to emphasize the interconnection between our diverse ecosystems. By working in two mediums, glass-like ceramics and expressionistic acrylic paintings on panel explore flora and fauna endemic to the American West Coast. As storyteller, Amadour shares the stories of threatened and endangered species, including the Dune Gilia found in the Presidio in San Francisco, Tiehm's Buckwheat in Nevada, and Baker's Larkspur in Sonoma County. Wildflowers provide critical habitats for migrating birds, pollinators, and beneficial insects, vital for ecosystem function and pollination.

Each painting depicts the motion of birds in flight. Gestural movements allude to the rapid pace at which local bird species and their habitats are vanishing. On the West Coast, migrant birds cross over vast stretches of land and sea in the Pacific Flyway during their extraordinary journey between Alaska and Central America. By creating abstract sketches of the environment, Amadour's paintings consider the ecological economics of resource valuation; agriculture versus nature preserve, mining versus saving a wildflower, and construction versus environmental review. 

Amadour also reflects on how interconnected we collectively are as living beings on Planet Earth. Symbolic of the interaction between bone systems and connective tissue, the artist questions malleability and stability. Each ceramic piece represents an altered, cavernous landscape while implying the human aspect of anatomical bone structure. Bright pigmented glazes based on the colors of the wildflowers indicate how living dynamics coincide as pathways or portals to and from each other. 

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Amadour is an interdisciplinary artist who works with painting, sculpture, sound, and performance to investigate landscape, architectural forms, and our relationship as humans to built and natural environments. They received dual BA degrees in studio art and art history from the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture in 2018. Amadour lectures with the United Nations Association and writes for the Brooklyn Rail, Frieze Magazine, Cultured Magazine, Riot Material, XTRA Contemporary Art Quarterly, and the California Art Review. As an art historian, Amadour is researching and writing on the multiplicity of gender in Colombian autochthonous communities. www.amadour.com