ROBERT GUNDERMAN: THIS END

September 14 - October 12, 2019

The title "This End" reflects that moment when we face the end of something, stepping into the uncertain void that lies on the other side. It’s a space where we encounter transformation and mystery.

Drawing inspiration from the work of German forester Peter Wohlleben, who explored how trees nurture and communicate with one another, Gunderman highlights the interdependence within nature’s communities. In the past decade, Gunderman has lived in a Condor Sanctuary nestled within a national forest, where he cares for nearly 1,000 trees on his property. His work often anthropomorphizes nature, infusing organisms and elements with human traits. In works like Our Sun, trees, stars, and other life forms take on human characteristics, with the sun portrayed as having a face and fingers, blurring the lines between human and non-human experiences.

This exhibition also delves into the ideas of British biologist Rupert Sheldrake, who proposed that nature is composed of “evolving habits” rather than fixed laws. Sheldrake's concept of Morphogenetic Fields suggests that nature holds a memory of past patterns, influencing the present and future. Gunderman's bifurcated paintings explore this notion of memory, offering a dual narrative of time, both linear and cyclical. Like his previous works in the last exhibition at there-there, these pieces convey the simultaneous, layered experience of time.

Additionally, Gunderman’s paintings draw from his admiration of late 19th and early 20th century French art, particularly the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. A large orange painting in the show pays homage to Odilon Redon’s The Cyclops and to Goya’s Hommage à Goya (1885).

In essence, Gunderman’s work invites us to see everything as alive, imbued with human characteristics, interconnected in ways we may not fully understand. Time collapses, and through his portals, we can access realms beyond our own.

– Bob Gunderman, Fall 2019