The Painting Center presents Cultivate Your Own Garden, an exhibition of twelve contemporary artists: Cecile Chong, Elisabeth Condon, Daniel Dallmann, Carlo D’Anselmi, Lois Dodd, Ashley Garrett, Xico Greenwald, Eric Holzman, Wolf Kahn, Judith Linhares, Carol March and Ruth Miller on view through March 24th.

The title for the show comes from the Voltaire novel Candide (1759) and refers to the idea of taking care of one’s own needs before taking care of others’. The idea of connecting to nature despite the cacophony of the world around us seems apt at this moment in history. Curators Patricia Spergel and Shazzi Thomas selected artists for this exhibition who reference garden and landscape in their work in a variety of ways – traditional observational painting, works with subtle satirical and political commentary and paintings that lean towards abstraction. What all these paintings have in common is a love for nature and paint, and a clear, focused approach to transmitting that passion.

There is a weariness and fatigue that sets in towards the end of winter. It is our hope that this exhibition will give the viewer a momentary respite from the relentless onslaught of the exterior world – both its politics and its harsh weather – and that carefully looking at these paintings will serve as a moment to pause, renew and reflect inward.

This exhibition and its accompanying catalogue would not have been possible without the generous support of the Caroline M. Lowndes Foundation.