Nature/Artifice

This selection of contemporary paintings, sculpture, and video from the Museum’s collection explores the relationship between nature and artifice. In some cases, natural materials—a lemon, thistles, or rocks, for example—are placed in artful arrangements or altered to extend their significance. Conversely, manufactured materials—ranging from audiotape to flip-flop sandals—are configured to resemble such natural phenomena as a cascading waterfall or the Caribbean Sea. A number of the works featured here are recent acquisitions being shown for the first time.