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Description
In Our Nature is a body of work that examines the human inclination to mimic the outdoors when making aesthetic choices within the domestic environment. The objects created for this exhibition are intended to reveal the ubiquity of nature-inspired items within the home and to question what this tendency reveals about our relationship with actual nature. This collection is greatly inspired by biologist Edward O. Wilson's idea of biophilia, which is defined as; [human's] "innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes." It is in this spirit that In Our Nature looks at how, in the home, natural motifs and themes are incorporated into our daily lives in a distinctly sterilized way. Each sculpture attempts to juxtapose or reconcile stylized nature with actual nature; tinkering with the idea that our aesthetics are subconsciously informed more by our biology than by our subjective choice. The collection of found home d_cor elements that are featured in each piece are selected from a variety of time periods, meant to suggest that this behavior is imbedded within our culture, encompassing our past, present and future. I was also careful to select items and patterns of home d_cor that felt common and recognizable. By selecting recognizable items I hope to connect to my viewer on a personal level, so that the individual might reflect on how these ideas are part of their own particular environments, and more broadly, what it means to behave this way. Each of the five pieces in this exhibition is made using only found d_cor items inspired by nature, and found items from nature. By making elements of domestic decor behave like the nature they signify, I hope to show our complex but feeble attempt, and apparent need, to intimately reconnect with nature. The body of work that comprised In Our Nature was displayed in the University Gallery at San Diego State University from April 6 _ 18, 2013. Images of this project are on file at the Slide Library of the School of Art, Design, and Art History at San Diego State University.
