| Bending Nature is an exhibition of contemporary art assembled for the environment of a botanical conservatory. It is a look at how 15 very different artists and designers have been inspired by plants, plant growth, and horticultural traditions. Bending Nature is part of an ongoing program of exhibitions at the Franklin Park Conservatory that draws parallels between the visual arts and the Conservatory’s traditional mission of horticultural science and education. It is the first large-scale group exhibition here organized by a contemporary art curator. Most of the Conservatory’s spaces are used, including outdoor courtyards and terraces, indoor climatic biomes, a spacious atrium and a climate-controlled exhibition gallery. |
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Robert Stearns, former director of the Wexner Center for the Arts, currently lives in Palm Springs, where he is a member of the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission.
Andy Goldsworthy, Elm sticks joined with mud laid over the following day with elm leaves, November 18, 2002. Work From Scotland For California. Two Unique Ilfachrome prints (Diptych), 29.5 x 29.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco.Bending Nature is an exhibition of contemporary art assembled for the environment of a botanical conservatory. It is a look at how 15 very different artists and designers have been inspired by plants, plant growth, and horticultural traditions.
Bending Nature is part of an ongoing program of exhibitions at the Franklin Park Conservatory that draws parallels between the visual arts and the Conservatory’s traditional mission of horticultural science and education. It is the first large-scale group exhibition here organized by a contemporary art curator. Most of the Conservatory’s spaces are used, including outdoor courtyards and terraces, indoor climatic biomes, a spacious atrium and a climate-controlled exhibition gallery. Because most of the Conservatory’s environment is humid and conducive to organic growth, unlike conventional museum environments, selecting works was challenging, yet offered fresh ideas and new approaches to presenting art.
As a curator, I research the historical and cultural foundations of the topic of any exhibition. In this case, I considered specific traditions of human interaction with growing plants and plant material, namely Western topiary and Oriental bonsai. The Conservatory’s visitors are well-acquainted with these aesthetic forms, and they offer a familiar introduction to more challenging concepts in other areas of the exhibition.
Sculpture, photography, drawings, video, and film will be represented in the exhibition. A children’s area will feature interactive stations where young visitors can explore the processes used by some of the artists in creating their work.
Notable works include: David Byrne’s Arboretum, a 2006 collection of conceptual musings that take the form of tree structures, making logical—and illogical—connections between strings of ideas; Andy Goldsworthy’s collection of photographs recording one of his “interventions” in geographically remote locations; Dennis Oppenheim’s new installation of his ongoing work, Alternative Landscape Components; Roxy Paine’s collection of painstakingly crafted botanical specimens created with synthetic polymers; and Robert Smithson’s video, Floating Island (posthumously realized in 2005).
For me, bonsai and topiary are inherently surreal, in part because natural processes are interrupted by human intervention. The results are presented out of context and/or out of scale. In the realm of popular culture, they can easily tend toward kitsch and the pleasantly absurd. Thus, in all the works, I wanted to find a sense of humor and levity. I avoided works that relied too heavily on scientific processes, such as controlled eco-systems, hydroponic cultures, and genetic interference, and works that displayed outward aggression or disrespect for the medium or the audience. Instead, I have gravitated toward works that draw the viewer in and encourage interaction.
