"Some call it God’s art - if you believe in God."

The ICFA Gallery in Palm Beach presented Natural Treasures: Blending Natural Art with Fine Art, an ambitious and thought-provoking exhibition uniting the awe-inspiring formations of the natural world with the creative vision of contemporary artist Attila Konnyu.

This exhibition marked a significant curatorial evolution for ICFA, which had showcased Konnyu’s dynamic paintings and sculptures since the gallery’s opening in November 2014.

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With Natural Treasures, the gallery broadened its curatorial scope to explore the convergence between geological phenomena and contemporary artistic practice. Rare mineral specimens - formed over millions of years through natural geological processes - were recontextualized within the framework of fine art, placed in conceptual and visual dialogue with Konnyu’s monumental canvases. In this setting, the inherent aesthetics of nature were afforded parity with works shaped by human creativity.

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These mineral formations, created deep within the Earth’s crust, were presented as natural masterpieces. “It’s nature’s art,” remarked the exhibition’s curator, referring to the installation on North County Road.

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Among the exhibition’s most notable works was The Thunderbolt, a jagged gold specimen weighing 3,600 grams, discovered in Western Australia. Valued at over $2 million, it is considered one of the most extraordinary mineral specimens ever found.

Natural Treasures invited viewers to reconsider conventional notions of creation and artistic value.

 

By presenting nature’s own sublime artistry in dialogue with Attila Konnyu’s human-made works, the exhibition blurred the line between the geological and the artistic - challenging traditional hierarchies within the art world.

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Source: Palm Beach Daily News, 2015