Getting Close to the Event Horizon... An exhibition by Andreana Donahue...

January 19-March 19th
Opening reception with the artist: January 21 5:50-7:30PM

Andreana Donahue's work explores ideas of the impermanence of place through sculptural hand-cut paper installations that relate to various forms found in non-desert landscapes in her exhibition “getting close to the event horizon.”

An event horizon is the surface of a black hole. At a certain point, there is no way to control the force of its gravitational pull, beyond which there is no return. Artist Andreana Donahue has been researching black holes and is interested in the impermanence of place, the unpredictability of nature, and our human experience.

The artist explores these ideas through a sculptural hand-cut paper installation that references forms not naturally found in the desert: lush grass, surging waves, and arctic glaciers. Her intricate line work calls to mind topographical maps; these "maps" hint at previous events and connect distant landscapes with the experience of here and now. The fragile nature of her materials and the abstractions in the gallery suggest our transient, cyber-society’s distanced relationship with nature and a disconnect with any real sense of place, yet the physicality of Donahue’s cut paper forms creates a space of contemplation and reconnection for the viewer. The process of making the work balances intuition with controlled cutting and shaping in response to the unpredictability and imperfections of nature and our human experience.

The work responds to the surrounding environments of both Las Vegas and the Winchester Gallery space. Las Vegas has a history of reinventing itself, its sense of place ever-shifting as it borrows from other cultures’ architecture, landmarks, and natural landscapes to create a new reality. Featuring a dynamic wave piece spanning half the length of the gallery’s curved wall that calls to mind the spectacle of the Bellagio’s fountains or the quiet drama of a Turner seascape, Donahue’s works are drawings undefined by the picture plane, and investigate actual, imagined, and the illusion of space.

Andreana Donahue is an artist/curator currently living and working in Las Vegas. She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and studied at Temple University in Rome, Italy. Donahue owned and curated main gallery, an exhibition space that featured contemporary, emerging and mid-career artists in downtown Las Vegas from 2007-2009 and has recently returned to her studio practice. Her work has been exhibited in Chicago, Rome, and Las Vegas, including last year’s “Inscribed Messages” exhibition at the Clark County Govt. Center.

The Winchester Cultural Center Gallery
3130 S. McLeod Drive, just north of Desert Inn
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. The center and gallery are closed on Sunday and Monday.

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