Visual Arts
In a startling variety of ways, contemporary artists are exploring the relationship that our species has to its planet. We have aggregated some of this very intriguing work below. If you have suggestions for works to add to the gallery, please contact us.
Works can also be viewed in portfolio view.
2014-15 Curator: Julia Olson
Forest Sculptor Spencer Byles creates natural sculptures by twisting plants and trees together. ‘This project’ represents his experiences throughout a twelve month period exploring the back regions of three unmanaged local forests making on site sculptures. The sites are in the region of La Colle Sur Loup, Villeneuve Loubet and Mougins, France. All the sculptures are temporary using only natural and found materials sourced at each location. (source).
Artist Ben Butler builds large-scale sculptures by assembling hundreds of pieces of wood together into odd formations. With no exact plan in mind, Butler carefully stacks the sections of aspen or cedar together one-by-one, letting the wood and the balance of each piece determine where the next piece will be placed. As the sculpture grows, the final product eventually begins to mimic natural formations like the layers of the earth or the cross-section of a canyon. Butler meticulously and precisely constructs the flowing curves and lines that result in the uniquely organic shapes. His sculptures are textured and complex, and, by alternating thickness and color, the slight variations of wood add to the tactile nature of the pieces. (source).
In a project titled Exobiotanica, Japanese artist Azuma Makoto launched two objects into space: a 50-year-old white pine bonsai and an untitled arrangement of orchids, hydrangeas, lilies, irises, and other flowers. The artist said of the project: “Plants on the earth rooted in the soil, under the command of gravity. Roots, soil and gravity—by giving up the links to life, what kind of ‘beauty’ shall be born?” (source).
New York-based, Chinese-born artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s The Ninth Wave features a weathered fishing boat from Cai’s hometown of Quanzhou carrying 99 fabricated animals onboard. Artificial pandas, tigers, camels, and other beasts cling to the worn ship, appearing weary and seasick. Cai’s work highlights Earth’s current environmental and ecological crisis, as evidenced by high levels of smog in the air, as well as the incident of 16,000 dead pigs floating down the Huangpu River last year. The artist’s work is a shocking exploration of the challenge that humans face in regards to our planet. (source).
Beijing-based artist Ren Ri bases his work around the relationship between humans and nature by collaborating with honeybees to create sculptures. Yuansu II are sculptures embedded in transparent plastic polyhedrons. In order to induce the insects to create symmetrical wax sculptures, the queen bee is kept at the center of the geometric space. This causes the bees to gather and start building around the center. Every seven days Ri changed the gravity of the developing honeycomb by rotating the box on a different side, determined by a throw of dice. (source).