At the Porto Vista Hotel we are lucky enough to continuously host substantial art with deeper meanings and inspirational motives behind the work. Our most recent exhibiting artist Josh Tonies’ falls nothing short. Who would think a relaxing activity such as going to a golf course and hitting a couple of rounds can be detrimental to the future of our ecosystem? Through Tonie’s art exhibition Green Hazard, featuring  new multi-channel animation film examines the environmental impact of golf courses. Catch the animations in looping in our lobby until Dec 2020.  

Josh Tonies’ animations navigate expansive golf courses that are digitally rendered from USGS and NASA topographic maps, and then edited and landscaped based on observational data of coastal golf resorts around the world. These picturesque, garden spaces that notoriously create a separation of economic and social classes are transformed by climate events using 3D animation software, physics simulations and climate models. These lush green manicured landscapes need vast amounts of resources such as land and water which contribute to increased global temperatures. Ironically, these coastal courses are the first to be affected by rising sea levels. 

Although President Donald Trump publicly denies the threat of climate change, Politico reported in 2016, that a permit application for the construction of a seawall to protect his Golf Resort in Ireland was filed by Trump International Golf Links Ireland, citing “global warming and its consequences — increased erosion due to rising sea levels and extreme weather” as the main cause of damage. Green Hazard positions the golf course at the intersection of political and ecological tensions. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Josh Tonies is an artist who works with drawing and the moving image. His work centers around temporary ecological studies that take form as animation, drawing, works on paper and book arts. He is a lecturer on record at the University of San Diego and UC San Diego, teaching courses in film, video art, animation, and studio arts. He has exhibited his work most recently at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, The Center for Fiction in NYC, Comfort Station in Chicago Illinois and the San Diego Museum of Art. 

Artist’s website: http://www.joshtonies.com