Earth Art Exhibit: Subtle Sustainability
Bob Verschueren XIII/08 2008 Installation view Courtesy Royal Botanical Gardens
Now is the time to take a walk at Burlington’s Royal Botanical Gardens. In a novel project for the RBG this summer, in collaboration with Toronto’s PRIME Gallery, they have brought in the respected art critic and writer John K. Grande to curate an exhibition of environmental art built around the garden’s land and water features. Each of the show’s ten international artists has used local materials and taken the lay of the land into account, creating green sculptures that collectively express a subtle message about sustainable environments. As Grande points out in the accompanying catalogue essay, “we are no longer in the age of ‘land art,’” so you won’t see any machismo or earth moving and tearing à la 1960s land art here. The work of these artists (Hamilton-based Simon Frank, German artist Nils-Udo, Belgian Bob Verschueren and American Sharon Loper, among others) is characterized by the new terms of environmental art: namely, as the eco art-promoting greenmuseum.org asserts, “helping to improve our relationship to the natural world.” One aim of “Earth Art Exhibit” is to get us to find our love of nature again, and it looks sure to do it. (680 Plains Rd W, Burlington ON)
Nils-Udo Clemson Clay Nest 2008 Installation view Courtesy Royal Botanical Gardens
Roy Staab Reflections Flowing 2008 Installation view Courtesy Royal Botanical Gardens
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