Casey Kaplan’s Gradens in Orbit Describes Johanna Unzueta’s Drawings Through a Chain of Comparisons

Chilean artist Johanna Unzueta’s new show Gradens in Orbit is now on view at Casey Kaplan in Manhattan, and the gallery has put together a suite of descriptions that try to capture what her work feels like. The gallery’s press materials describe her drawings on hand-dyed paper and homespun fabric as “natural pills against language,” and they back that up with a string of comparisons that range from flower petals greeting the dawn to a heart pumping out indigo-colored blood.

The comparisons are meant to do what words about visual art often struggle to do: convey the physical experience of looking at something. Each one points at a different aspect of the work, and taken together they build a picture of pieces that are both delicate and intense.

The Gallery’s Descriptions

The gallery’s descriptions are built around a set of similes. They start simple and grow more elaborate as they go. Here is the full run:

1. Like flower petals greeting the light of dawn.
2. Like butterfly wings made of steel mesh.
3. Like a supernova explosion that happened 20,000 years ago but still looks like it’s on day one.
4. Like beads containing seeds strung on cotton threads stretched over a green valley between two mountain peaks.
5. Like water bubbles mingling at a bubble convention.
6. Like a heart pumping out indigo-colored blood.
7. Like portals lined with effervescent silk.
8. Like natural pills that cure you of language.

Each one is a standalone image, and each one is paired with the next in a sequence that builds toward a final idea of the work as something that cures language itself.

What the Comparisons Actually Describe

The descriptions are not explanations in the usual sense. They do not say what the pieces are made of or how they were made. Instead they describe what the viewer might feel when they look at them, and they do it through images that cross scale and material in ways that words alone could not.

“Like flower petals greeting the light of dawn” sets a soft, welcoming tone. “Butterfly wings made of steel mesh” shifts abruptly into something harder, denser, and more industrial. The supernova comparison moves from the present moment to an event that happened 20,000 years ago but still looks fresh. The beads on a valley bridge description adds a sense of scale and weight, while the water bubbles and the heart pumping indigo blood move back toward the bodily and the immediate.

The final two comparisons, portals lined with effervescent silk and natural pills that cure you of language, pull the whole sequence back toward ideas of connection and release.

The Show’s Location and Dates

Gradens in Orbit runs at Casey Kaplan, located at 121 West 27th Street in Manhattan. The show was organized by the gallery. It closes on October 24.

The gallery’s press materials encourage viewers to see the work in person and to feel it, though they note that the pieces should not be touched. The descriptions themselves are designed to be read alongside the work, offering a way into the experience that language alone cannot fully capture.

Why These Comparisons Work

What makes these descriptions effective is that they are specific without being literal. They name things the viewer can picture — flower petals, butterfly wings, a supernova — and they pair those images with adjectives that suggest texture, color, and emotional weight. The result is a set of mental pictures that sit beside the actual work and prepare the viewer for what they might encounter.

The descriptions also work because they are ordered. Starting with something gentle and moving to something more dramatic creates a rhythm that mirrors the experience of encountering the work in person. The gallery’s framing treats the descriptions as a kind of map, guiding the viewer through the show’s emotional landscape.

How the Descriptions Are Used

The gallery’s press materials are clearly designed to draw people into the gallery. By presenting the work as something that can be felt rather than simply seen, they position the viewing experience as immersive and personal. The descriptions are a tool for that positioning, offering a way to describe the work without relying on formal art language or technical jargon.

The Final Comparison

The show’s title, Gradens in Orbit, and the gallery’s descriptions both point toward a sense of movement and containment. The gallery’s framing of the work as something that cures language suggests that the pieces operate outside of conventional communication, offering instead a sensory or intuitive experience.

The descriptions themselves are a form of communication, but they are careful not to fix the work in a single meaning. Each comparison opens a door rather than closing one, leaving room for the viewer to bring their own associations to the work.

Key Facts Box

• Artist: Johanna Unzueta, Chilean
• Gallery: Casey Kaplan, 121 West 27th Street, Manhattan
• Show: Gradens in Orbit
• Dates: On view now, closing October 24
• Descriptions: Eight similes, including flower petals, butterfly wings, a supernova, and natural pills against language

Comparison Table

What the Paper Thinks

The descriptions are effective precisely because they resist explanation. They offer images that are strange enough to hold the attention and specific enough to be remembered. The gallery’s framing of the work as something that cures language is a bold claim, and the descriptions support it by showing that the work operates on a level that words alone cannot reach.

The show runs through October 24, and the gallery encourages viewers to see it and feel it. The descriptions are there to help with that feeling, offering a way in that is poetic, vivid, and a little mysterious.

See the a run of 18 images at Hyperallergic.

Casey Kaplan · descriptive writing · gallery show · Johanna Unzueta · visual art