The Window Gallery: Aug. 30, 2022 - Jan. 28, 2023

The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is proud to present Meanwhile, a few feet away from you, an exhibition by Las Vegas artist Nanda Sharifpour. Sharifpour’s recent practice has focused on the role that plants play in contemporary society, positioning them both as metaphorical presences and as beings in their own right. Meanwhile, a few feet away from you uses our fascination with on-screen imagery “to drag attention towards the simple natural elements we pass by in our everyday lives.”
 
The viewer looks through the glass front of the Museum’s outdoor Window Gallery and sees an image of tree branches live-streamed on a screen. The real tree grows in the Donald H. Baepler Xeric Garden only a few feet away. Dozens of other branches are close by, alive with detail. Will the viewer take the time to look at them? Or will they be distracted by the visual echo on the monitor?
 
“Contemporary human society seems to pay special attention as soon as something is on the screen,” Sharifpour says. By referring to the mass of branches as a “readymade, this time by nature,” she repurposes a term first used by conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp, switching the focus from Duchamp’s “readymade” factory-produced products to the infinite variety of the natural world around her. Setting aside the steadiness of manufactured metal and plastic, the artist opens her installation up to the vagaries of wind, rain, and sunshine. “I would like to consider my work a collaboration with nature,” she says.

About the Artist

Nanda Sharifpour is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Las Vegas. Nature itself, and the relationship between contemporary humanity and nature, are among her main subjects. Born in Tehran, Iran, she holds a B.A. in Graphic Design and two M.F.A. degrees, one from Azad University of Art and Architecture in Tehran (2006), and the other from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2019). Sharifpour and her husband Ali Fathollahi, moved to the United States in 2012 as refugees. Since then, they have participated in numerous public and private art projects throughout Southern Nevada. Sharifpour has exhibited her work in over forty-five group and solo exhibitions across the United States, Turkey, and Iran. 

About the Window Gallery

The Window Gallery is a small gallery space on the outside wall of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. It houses compact exhibitions that can be viewed anytime, even when the Museum isn’t open. It is next to UNLV’s Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies, across from UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, under a covered walkway where golf carts sometimes park, and next to a cactus garden. Students, staff, and faculty pass by this small window on their daily treks across campus.

About the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art

The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art believes everyone deserves access to art that challenges our understanding of the present and inspires us to create a future that holds space for us all. Located on the campus of one of the most racially diverse university in the United States, we strive to create a nourishing environment for those who continue to be neglected by contemporary art museums, including BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ groups. As the only art museum in the city of Las Vegas, we commit ourselves to leveling barriers that limit access to the arts, especially for first-time visitors. To facilitate access for low-income guests we provide free entry to all our exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and community activities. Our collection of artworks offers an opportunity for researchers and scholars to develop a more extensive knowledge of contemporary art in Southern Nevada. The Barrick Museum is part of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV).