The new art exhibit Nothing is Yours at the downtown gallery River House Arts combines the works of two contemporary artists — Loren Eiferman and Madhurima Ganguly — into one fascinating show.
Remember finding that perfect stick when you were out in nature as a kid? Eiferman certainly does.
Eiferman, born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., gets up most mornings and goes for a walk in her neighborhood, looking for sticks that she can transform into her artwork. She never takes a stick or branch from a living tree, instead only looking for sticks that have fallen off a tree. She then takes the sticks home with her and adds it to her “sea of sticks,” her ever-growing pile of naturally found wood, which she bends, shapes, whittles, and constructs into bold and beautiful artistic creations.
“Sticks are my jam. Free art materials surround us daily and why not create art out something so ubiquitous and prevalent around my neighborhood?” said Eiferman. “Windstorms are my friends because of all the sticks and branches that fall to the ground.”
After collecting the sticks, Eiferman lets them dry out and become ready to turn into artwork.
“I have to make sure the sticks are all dry and cured and there are no bugs,” said Eiferman.
Then she draws a picture of what she wants the sculpture to look like and then dives into her sea of sticks to find the appropriate shapes for the piece.
“I cut and join using wood dowels, small pieces of wood that correspond to my drawing. I think of my sculptures as life drawings but in wood. I used to carve the sticks and now I don’t do that, I let the forms and the shapes of the wood dictate the form of the stick. I don’t feel like I need to add embellishments to the wood — it stands on its own in the shapes and the forms.”
In addition to Eiferman’s wood pieces, the exhibit includes several paintings from Ganguly, who was contacted by River House Arts gallery owner and curator Paula Baldoni after she saw Ganguly’s work on Instagram.
Ganguly started out as a sculptor but said that due to constantly moving her residence and the lack of a large enough studio space for sculpting, she switched her medium to painting and drawing. Ganguly is originally from India and currently resides in Canton, Mich., living “behind the IKEA.”
“These are mostly my recent works. a lot of imagery of female figures, tigers, and nature,” said Ganguly. “The work is about my mental reality—what I go through in life and the changing of my environment. That change is constant and I try to capture that mental state which is hard to capture.”
Initially Ganguly’s work documented her migration journey. Her grandparents migrated from Bangladesh to India in 1947 and Ganguly’s art explored how migration affected her and her family.
“We all go through the same loss when we leave our childhood home. The people, the memories, the friends. No matter where we are, what age we are, we always want to go back to that. Those memories are what I’m trying to explore through my work,” said Ganguly.
Baldoni said the two artists featured in Nothing is Yours are both making timely artistic statements with their work.
“Both of them are almost surrealists in their own mediums, and they share a certain sensibility — commitment to the planet, environmentalism,” said Baldoni. “Both of their works have a very strong line of being committed to humanity and the planet.”
Nothing is Yours opens with a reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. at River House Arts, located at 425 Jefferson Ave. The exhibit then will be on view until April 5. For more information, visit riverhousearts.com.
First Published March 7, 2025, 1:00 p.m.
