Kehler Liddell Group Show Has Good Genes

Kate Henderson’s Mitochondrial Eve stands in Kehler Liddell Gallery like an altar, a place to make an offering to art, science, and perhaps a higher power all at the same time. The figure in the middle, holding aloft a shape that evokes an egg, partakes of past representations of religious figures and fertility goddesses. The plants growing up around her suggest fecundity. But the letters floating around her give it away; it’s the protein sequence of DNA, the building blocks of life, that turn a double helix into a celebration of life.

Henderson’s piece is part of ​“Our DNA,” the fifth annual juried show at the gallery space on Whalley Avenue in Westville, running now through July 25 and featuring work from more than 50 artists hailing from New Haven to Cyprus. Each artist was asked to respond, in their work, to the following statement: ​“We humans are biological siblings, belonging to the genus Homo, and as Sapiens, the last surviving species of our genus. The last year spoke loudly of divisions and differences, but for this exhibit, we ask you as artists to focus on our 99.9% shared genome. Using any tools or languages, explore the belief systems and vocabularies of our family tree that touch on our common physical or metaphorical DNA, our essential humanity, the soul of the Sapien.” The resulting show is full of pieces that do just that, emphasizing both our shared humanity and our connections to the world around us.

Several of the more abstract pieces in the show, like William Butcher’s (above), incorporate the elegant form of DNA’s double helix, the twisting ladder of our genetic makeup that always seems to suggest infinite variation and possibility; the marvels of genetics begin with the makeup of the genes themselves. Tom Edwards’s piece makes the connection to DNA quite literal, as he uses the media of his actual blood and spit to create an image of himself — replicating himself in art as scientists might be able to replicate his actual person using the same substances.

Other artists move back through the chain of genetics to link humans to other animal species. Rod Cook’s double exposure highlights how humans are just another form of animal; we all make families, and in a broader sense, are part of one enormous family.

Natural history museums are beginning to organize themselves around genetics, bringing to light not only that humans are descended from earlier primates, but that, quite possibly, all living things quite possibly descended from a single, single-celled organism. In that light, Jessica Zamachaj’s piece not only invokes fertility, but asks whether there is really a crucial difference between the birth of children and the reproduction of plants; perhaps we reach our greatest potential as humans when we honor all species.

Sculptor Gar Waterman, meanwhile, looks at the prompt sideways, reminding us that in addition to love and connectedness, humans share impulses toward violence and destruction.

Other artists, like Nina Sumarac Jablonsky, dive into the riotous diversity that makes humans so rich as a species. Her art, like several others, is a representation and fierce defense of our gorgeous human messiness.

A few other artists, like Frank Bruckmann, find the connections among humans and the world around us in quieter moments when it all seems to come together.

Gabriella DiMaio’s piece, with its figures melding into one another, could be seen as depicting an act of love or of conflict, the figures just abstract enough to leave it open to interpretation, and archetypal enough to suggest how both emotions are deep parts of the human experience.

And in Briah Luckey’s piece, the artist reaches into the matriarchy to celebrate her lineage and depict multitudes, the panoply of people who make up the whole of humanity. It’s just one of dozens of artists’ viewpoints, which in total are a loud, boisterous, and enjoyably uncontrolled exhibit. But it all comes together at the end, too.

Our DNA runs at Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., through July 25. Visit the gallery’s website for more details, hours, and events related to the show. Participating artists are Eduardo Alvarez, Mark Battista, Robert Bienstock, Marsha Borden, Frank Bruckmann, Jill Butcher, William Butcher, Jeanette Compton, Penrhyn Cook, Rod Cook, Gabriella DiMaio, Anne Doris-Eisner, Jacqueline Allen Doucot, Tom Edwards, Daniel Eugene, Joe Fekieta, Brian Flinn, Kathryn Frederick, Kathryn Frund, Sean Patrick Gallagher, Jeffrey Gangwisch, Warda Geismar, Ellen Gordon, Dan Gries, Andrea Haas, Amy Hannum, Kate Henderson, Nina Sumarac Jablonsky, Sandra Jeknavorian, Aude Jomini, Ruth Kennedy, Earl Grenville Killeen, Eben Kling, Karl Kroeppler, Daudi Lazarre, Briah Luckey, Howard Margules, Christian Miller, Roy Money, David Ottenstein, Hilary Opperman, Donna Owens, Hank Paper, Tina Psoinos, Robert Schwarz, Sheri Schwarz, Anne Sheffield, Ada Monica Sperling, Geoffrey Stein, Lisa Toto, Joshua Unikel, Amanda Walker, Brian Williams, Marjorie Gillette Wolfe, Lauren Woods, Jessica Zamachaj.