Drive-By-Art

Tanya Minhas featured in group exhibition, Drive-By-Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing)

Drive-by-Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing)

Organized by Warren Neidich

South Fork, Long Island

May 9-10, 2020

"My paintings, installations, and drawings focus entirely on exploring the invisible forces of nature and the imprint they leave as tangible evidence of their existence on and in our lives. A sunny day and its importance for agriculture, that will be our sustenance. A tsunami – water stirred by wind –  that can devastate our material belongings. The pandemic for me has drawn to the forefront the strong destructive force in nature that some say has been evoked by our disregard for the balance of nature, and our disrespect for its creatures. I am even more convinced that there is a method to nature’s beauty and also to its potentially chaotic madness, and that we as human beings have been forcefully overstepping our boundaries. Most days I am scared, as I imagine these microscopic bits threatening possible death coming uninvited, to mingle with the air we breathe. The reason I chose the paintings that I am planning to show this weekend is that they represent invisible nature. Wildflower seeds take from nature -completely devoid of human intention and interaction- germinate and ultimately blossom, showing up in fields and in the cracks of urban pavement. Life goes on in the natural world around us. This reminder of nature’s resilience fills me with optimism that this disruption will introduce us to a new path where we can live in greater, and more thoughtful harmony with nature, than we did before the pandemic."

Tanya Minhas for Drive-By-Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing)

DRIVE-BY-ART Catalog Introduction:

"Drive-by baby showers and birthdays have become the norm for celebrating special events during this time of social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many others, artists and cultural producers are sequestered in their homes and studios dealing with depressed income, isolation and the fears that precarious futures produce. Enter Drive-By-Art, an outdoor public art exhibition that is experienced from the safety and intimacy of one’s own automobile. Not only does Drive-By-Art create a sense of needed solidarity within the artistic and cultural communities now entrenched in the South Fork of Long Island, but it also offers an experience that is otherwise severely limited by our current social distancing practices: interacting with tangible objects in the real world." - Drive-By-Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing) by Warren Neidich

Neidich, Warren, editor. Drive-By Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing). Drive-By Art, 2020.

Stowe, Stacey. "A Drive-By Art Show Turns Lawns and Garages Into Galleries." The New York Times, 11 May 2020.

Fox, Alex. "Drive-By Art Exhibition Provides Socially Distanced Dose of Culture," Smithsonian Magazine, May 14, 2020.