Nicole Wittenberg’s Sweeping Landscapes Take Root at Acquavella

Nature encourages a different understanding of time. The rhythms are predictable, mundane even, but in them exists the sublime: a flower blooms, leaves turn, the sun sets, tomatoes rot on the vine. The cycle marches on, unaware of, though not untouched by, the joys and the tragedies of the human realm.

Take hydrangeas, a happy flower millions of years old that grows well in soil but wilts quickly when cut. What does it feel like to behold something that is at once fleeting and eternal? Capturing this slippery essence is at the heart of the effervescent landscapes of Nicole Wittenberg. Her paintings burst off the canvas. The lavish colors and broad, bold brushstrokes are a call to action: Pay attention, they say. This might not last.

For “All the Way,” Wittenberg’s latest presentatio