Sharon Levy
Artifice and tragedy: Sharon Levy’s video Fire Season imagines a wildfire reaching the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles. The ersatz, almost cartoonish animations of fire speak to the surreality of our ‘New Normal.’
Fire Season, Video and animation, 2020.
Blinds: Fire, Linoleum print and watercolor on paper, 8” x 10” 2007
Sharon Levy Artist Statement:
Fire Season was made in response to the current fire season, already the worst in a century, and only just beginning. The video imagines a wildfire reaching the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Gardens–a treasure of ecological diversity–inside Los Angeles. This explores how ubiquitous wildfires have become in California due to a warming planet, and how every year they come increasingly close to the city. Scientists say that fire season is now throughout the entire year, and that anyone in any part of the state should be prepared to evacuate from wildfires. Blinds was inspired by the 2007 Malibu fires. These works tie into my larger explorations into my sense of wonder in the natural world, and my fear and sadness about its destruction.