You probably felt like you had been hit by a freight train this past weekend at Artropolis with so much art work available, but a must see is Gisela Insuaste’s Cuando Llegare at Bucket Rider Galley in the west loop. Insuaste’s new work will give you a moment to rest. Make sure you spend some time with this installation.

Insuaste is a lover of nature, travel, and the environments she experiences, all of which are in her current work — climbing the highest mountain in Ecuador, visiting shrines in Kyoto, experiencing the colors of Puerto Rico and Nicaragua, and being in a volcano on an island. From present day raised homes on sticks surrounded by water to the ancient civilizations of Peru and to the walls of Barcelona, habitat is a strong influence in her work. While reflecting her experiences of travel and a need to find new adventures, and, at the same time, trying to find a stability in her journey, her installation breaks from white light to colors of hominoids, nature, and organic forms.

As you walk into the Bucket Rider Galley, a long wall of thin white rods overlap each other and increase in number until fastening themselves to the corner of the adjacent wall. The simplicity of white forms, with light gray shadows, gives the eye a moment to rest and seems to be symbolic of white light (which is where all color comes from), and then an intensity of colorful hues fills the room with island pod-shapes of organic color. These islands of color traverse from stacks of light blues, turquoise, yellow, and varying tones of greens.

On the wall to the right are four large-scale wall drawings, nicely framed in white, so as not to distract from the work, allowing the rough edges of the paper to show as if the drawings were mounted directly on the wall. These four pieces are symbolic of her travels to Tokyo, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and her personal diary in which Insuaste lets the imagery and color tell a story of where she has been. Viewing of Insuaste’s work continues through June 16, 2007.

Technorati Tags: Ecuador, Kyoto, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, volcano, Peru, Barcelona, travel, drawings