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"Symbiosis" (Part 2) Now Showing

When: 
July 29, 2022 1 p.m. to Sept. 11, 2022 9 p.m.

Celebrated art collector and curator Beth Rudin DeWoody continues her four-part exhibition, “Symbiosis,” at Berkshire Botanical Garden in both the Outdoor Sculpture Garden and Leonhardt Galleries,

“Throughout my collecting, I see patterns in the works that artists are creating,” says DeWoody. “I’m bringing to BBG lots of exciting, emerging artists who have been on my radar for a while. I’m also happy to show artists within this exhibition who are more world-renowned. Curating always gives me the opportunity to support and share my vision beyond just my collection.”

The second exhibition of “Symbiosis” runs through Sept. 11, and features works by Christopher Adams, Charles Arnoldi, L.C. Armstrong, Madeleine Bialke, David Brooks, Leidy Churchman, Peter Dayton, Margot Glass, Mimi Gross, Paula Hayes, Robert Hawkins, Marc Horowitz, Kathy Klein, Seffa Klein, Nancy Monk, Charles Ray, Tomás Saraceno, Max Hooper Schneider, Katherine Sherwood, Simone Shubuck, Coleen Sterritt, and Tabboo!

In all, “Symbiosis” features more than 100 well-known and emerging contemporary artists that celebrate our natural world. The exhibition not only focuses on the interaction between organisms that mutually benefit each other but speaks in a greater sense about the overall interconnectivity of all living things.

Featured in the Outdoor Sculpture Garden throughout the summer and fall are works by Kiki Smith, Ned Smyth, and Thaddeus Mosley, among others.                                                            

One of the most prominent artists of the past century, Kiki Smith creates artworks in various media that cross the natural and spiritual worlds, gender and sexuality, and birth and regeneration. Her work has been the subject of more than 25 museum exhibitions worldwide and featured in five Venice Biennales. “Sungrazer IX” represents Smith’s latest exploration of patinated bronze. Though the sculpture is rendered in a sturdy medium, the delicacy that Smith is known for — in her drawings, collages and other two-dimensional work — is evident within the details of the piece. Fascinated by the immense complexities of the cosmos, Smith further explores this through “Sungrazer,” by giving shape to the movement and brilliance of the stars.                                                                  

At the age of 96, self-taught and acclaimed sculptor Thaddeus Mosley is still producing work in his home city of Pittsburgh, Pa. “Inverted Dancer” is cast in bronze from Mosley’s traditional process that transforms often salvaged wood into abstract forms. These abstractions are inspired by a wide-range of influences — from Constantin Brancusi and European modernism, to jazz and African Diaspora art. At times the work recalls the rawness and structure of Dogon stepladders from Mali or even the minimalism of Isamu Noguchi. 

Mosley’s simplistic but highly pensive process involves his use of only a mallet or chisel. Mosley has always been drawn to wood for its availability, simplicity and warmth in its tones. Though cast in bronze, “Inverted Dancer” retains the beauty in the color of the “wood” and connects to the same organic nature of the land.                                                     

New York-based sculptor Ned Smyth has exhibited internationally for almost 50 years in venues including the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art. Smyth’s inspiration comes from surrounding nature and found organic materials. His latest sculpture, “Twig 1-5,” is cast in bronze from a twig that is merely 12-inches high. This radical transformation in scale not only skews the viewer’s perception, it does so with a reverence to nature, monumentalizing an everyday piece of it.                                                                   

Inside, the Leonhardt Galleries will have transformed a total of three times this season. Each exhibition provides its own unique take with subject matter that ranges from Ikebana and spiders to Dodo birds and potatoes.

Featured in part two of the “Symbiosis” series, Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno has been collaborating with spiders for many years. In “Particular Matter(s),” Saraceno’s recent exhibition at The Shed in New York, he staged an immersive sensory experience, as well as numerous intricate spider webs as sculpture. His work in “Symbiosis” is a web “collage.” Presenting spider silk as if it were a delicate line drawing, the silk is dipped in ink, rendering this network of mark-making visible on the paper.

The third Leonhardt Gallery exhibition of “Symbiosis” will run from Sept. 16 through Oct. 30, and feature works by John McAllister, Lou Beach, Mitchell Charbonneau, Helen Chung, Elliot Green, Adler Guerrier, Sophia Heymans, Marsia Holzer, Max Jansons, Poppy Jones, Iran Issa-Khan, Lacey Leonard, Matt Murphy, Peter Nadin, Rose Nestler, Jonathan Peck, Alexandra Penney, Rob Raphael, Megumi Shinozaki, Celina Teague, Wade Tullier, Elizabeth Thompson, Henry Vincent, Gabrielle Vitollo, Shanna Waddell, Faith Wilding, and Anna Zemánková. 

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