Madeleine Tonzi - "Terraesthesia"

SAN FRANCISCO—Hashimoto Contemporary is pleased to present Terraesthesia, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Madeleine Tonzi. In Terraesthesia, the artist explores the subtle ways land communicates to us through color, texture, scent, and form. Continuing her exploration of memory, place, and the environment, Tonzi looks to the ways the earth speaks through a continuous stream of sensory information.

The term Terraesthesia, developed by Tonzi, describes the communication between landscapes and those who inhabit them. Terra, meaning earth, while esthesia, refers to the capacity for sensation, feeling, or responsiveness to sensory stimuli. The artist shares that these signals “shape our understanding of where we are, where we come from, and how we transform those experiences into personal attachments to place. From these relationships emerges not only a sense of belonging, but also the inspiration that informs our creative and emotional lives.”

Guided by interconnectivity and placemaking, Madeleine Tonzi developed the exhibition’s color palette. Greens evoking moss, swamps, and lichen can be seen across works like The Wind Is Blowing Today So No Wifi and Nurturing the Unknown. While the body of work began in Los Angeles, the series was completed in the artist’s home town of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Influenced by sandy arroyos, saturated greens meet subdued earthy hues. Glints of silver leaf reflect the light like glistening specks of iron and mica. These subtle shifts in palette and sense of continuity across the works embody the quiet dialogue between the artist and the natural world.

In Terraesthesia, Madeleine Tonzi considers not only how landscapes are remembered but how they become embedded within us, revealing how the land leaves traces on memory, identity, and self actualization.

Join us for the opening of Terraesthesia on Saturday, August 1st with a reception from 5pm - 7pm. The exhibition will run through Saturday, August 22nd.

For additional information, images, or press requests, please email sf@hashimotocontemporary.com