27 Aug 2020

Lionel Cruet: Dusk/Daybreak

Yi Gallery

Reviewed by Audra Lambert

A suffused magenta glow seems to soften the footsteps of guests visiting the ethereal "Dusk/Daybreak." Works on view feature warm gradients foregrounding the sharp outlines of tropical forest growth and obfuscated beach vistas, vignettes in hues of cerulean and fuchsia echoing the dawn of a new day in the artist's native Puerto Rico.

In this latest body of work, the liminal dominates the pictures and guides the viewer's eye through poignant reminders of the tension between the artificial and the sublime in nature. Emerging from these scenes of beauty is a warning that our ecosystems rely on a delicate balance, as global warming threatens coastlines the world over.

Dusk/Daybreak 4 and Dusk/Daybreak 6 (both are 2020) especially seem to revel in the gradual shifting between tones. The debris found along beaches and included in these visual logs indicate the state of our paradises. Despite their glow, the photographic evidence reinforces that we exist in an era when our treatment of nature determines the future of our planet.