War and Nature, a group show on view through July 29 at New York's Virgil de Voldere Gallery, explores the absurd human response to the cycles of transformation, destruction, and rebirth found in (capital-N) Nature. The exhibition argues that war is a product of the human desire to emulate and subdue the overwhelmingly destructive power of Nature. This is certainly a debatable point; nevertheless, the gallery has assembled a number of talented artists to reflect on this issue, such as Nina Bovasso, Omer Fast, Daniel Johnston, Meiro Kosumi, Charlene Liu, Brody Condon, Ariel Orozco, Hung-Chi Peng, Roman Singer, Nicolas Touron, and Tsui Kuang-Yu. Condon’s Suicide Solution, a video documentating 50 scenes of suicide committed in first- and third-person shooter games, proposes a nuanced interpretation of the show's theme. His repetitive sabotage of the games' aim evokes questions about the complexity of the current call to war, without resorting to any simplistic explanation. - Ceci Moss
