Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York is excited to announce Don’t Be A Square, an exhibition of new works by photographer, Margeaux Walter.  In this series, the artist expands on her signature style of creating environments that tread a fine line between fantasy and reality while taking a closer look at the natural world.  Walter investigates the current period in history known as the Anthropecene age and how human activity has started to have a significant irreversible impact on the planet’s climate.

In December of 2019, Margeaux Walter began this body of work during a two-week stay in California, and then continued the series in 2021 when she was awarded the Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency. She set out to explore the disconnection between humans and the landscapes around them.  In each of the photographs, Walter constructs “a glitch in time”, as if humanity has camouflaged itself into the surrounding land, yet cannot find harmony.  Each “glitch” is portrayed in the form of a square, a shape rarely found in nature, which can be interpreted as a pixel or cubicle.

The artist sought out landscapes with depth and saturated in deep hues.  She needed to capture the scenes at just the right time of day while using various props to stage each story and herself as the characters. In the image Backstage, a sunset of pinks and blues illuminate a rocky foreground. A pink curtain floats in the center of the image, parted just enough to allow the viewer to see a character dressed to match. The photograph, Nap, while it appears to be a still and calm scene, has someone drifting away on a lake in all blue clothing, lying in a matching inflatable couch.

Margeaux Walter plays with the contrast between the striking landscapes and subtle human present imbedded in the image to create a surrealistic tableau. Her work pulls the viewer in, requiring more than a quick glance, to spark a second thought about the relationship humans have with the environment and the impact even little changes can make.