Shelly Malkin is a devoted observer. Her delicately rendered watercolors record the evolution of the world that surrounds her. Her subject matter, whether she’s depicting the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy or the azure waters of the Andaman Sea, spans place, scope and scale. Malkin’s mission, through her medium of choice, is to report on and record the ever-evolving beauty and destruction that she observes. Her watercolors investigate the philosophical impasse at which humanity and nature often meet: She uses classical landscape painting to present the viewer with questions about the scientific consequences of the often-careless imprint society leaves on the earth.

This collection of new works, which includes large-format watercolors and an installation, functions as a series of meditations: each evokes a specific place and time, and dwells on the sometimes catastrophic results of extreme weather. Her ambitious installation of more than 50 small watercolors of butterflies, titled Butterfly Effect, is a reference to chaos theory: the idea that slight changes, such as the fluttering of butterflies’ wings, can give rise to strikingly dramatic consequences.

Shelly Malkin grew up in New York City and graduated from Princeton University, earning a degree in Art History. She studied painting at the School of Visual Arts, the National Academy of Design in New York, and at the Silvermine Arts Center and with Dmitri Wright in Connecticut. Malkin has participated in numerous group and solo shows. She lives and works in Connecticut.