Nina Surel: Sailing to Byzantium at Valli Art Gallery

Photography by Andrew Stankus on November 12th, 2015 in Culture

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Miami, FL – November 5, 2015 – In Journey to Byzantium, Nina Surel translates the poetic allegory of aging by William Butler Yeats into an imaginary physical and spiritual journey using sculpture, installation, sound and video. An ordinary boat is the mode of transport from one realm to another, from the temporal to the eternal. The transformation from youth to old age for women involves negotiation with biology. While we desire to remain perfect and unchanging, we are in fact prone to wrinkles, the decline of physical beauty, decay, and eventual disappearance. Surel locates Yeats’ “singing masters of the soul” in the form of golden birds. The material of gold leaf is associated with the “artifice of eternity”, which is superior to the natural which fades. Surel’s works have frequently involved the use of resin to embalm ornaments and decorative elements that are suggestive of nature made artificial such as flowers, birds and plants. The exhibition will be on view until November 20th at Valli Art Gallery.

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