The University of New Mexico Art Museum and the UNM College of Fine Arts will celebrate the opening of the exhibition: Meridel Rubenstein, “Eden Turned on Its Side” on Saturday, Feb. 3 from 3 to 6 p.m. The evening will feature a variety of activities in different locations, along with music by Muni Kulasinghe and food by My Sweet Basil.

A conversation between curator Shawn Michelle Smith and artist Meridel Rubenstein take place in Keller Hall From 3 to 4 p.m. Rubenstein will be available for a book signing in the Center for the Arts lobby at 4 p.m. Additionally, the opening reception will be on view in the main gallery at the UNM Art Museum from 4 to 6 p.m.

Eden On Its Side
Meridel Rubenstein's "Eden Turned On Its Side" featured exhibit at UNM Art Museum. 

Admission is free and open to the public. A $5 donation suggested to support exhibitions.

Rubenstein’s exhibit is a major photographic artwork comprised of three parts: photosynthesis, volcano cycle, and Eden in Iraq. The work is about human relationships to the environment on the scales of human time, geological time and mythical time. Photosynthesis focuses on the natural cycle of the seasons and the interdependence on trees for human existence, including the very air people and creatures breathe. Volcano cycle documents the active volcanoes of the Indonesian Ring of Fire to consider ecological change on the non-human scale of deep, geological time. Eden in Iraq explores environmental devastation and renewal at the site of biblical Eden in southern Iraq.

This will be the first showing of “Eden Turned on Its Side” that includes selections from all three of its component series.

Rubenstein, who maintains her art studio in Santa Fe, began her professional career in the early 1970s, evolving from a photographer of single photographic images to an artist of extended works and multi-media installations. She has exhibited widely including the Louvre in Paris, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin as well as in numerous gallery and museum exhibitions in the United States.

The UNM Art Museum is located within the Center for the Arts complex off Redondo Drive near the UNM Bookstore.

The UNM Art Museum thanks Brian Gross Fine Art for their generous support of this exhibition. The conversation is supported by the Allene H. and Walter P. Kleweno Lecture Series Fund.

For more information visit the website or call 505.277.4001.