This week, I’ve been able to visit with artist Roberley Bell as she installs her exhibition at Laumeier. Along with our curatorial crew - Robert Goetz and Nick Lang - and intern Adrienne Sandusky, Bell has been assembling, mounting, and positioning a dizzying array of blobs, wonders, flowers, butterflies, insects and glass orbs. Her subject matter and her color choices are undoubtedly arresting - but the larger question about man’s quest for “control” of nature is equally intriguing to me.
Visiting Laumeier is largely an outdoor experience and one with varying degrees of human-manipulated nature. Between the manicured lawns and the landscaped plantings you can clearly see the nature of man’s desire. While exploring the wooded trails, you can take a few steps into the thick brush and gain a sense of the landscape of two centuries ago. The geographical distance between those two is not great, but the metaphorical expanse is large enough for artists like Bell to roam and explore the question. How do we define nature? Are we controlling the natural world or is it controlling us? Why do we surround our increasingly indoor lives with real and artificial nature?
Come to Laumeier and step inside for a whimsical look at the outside from the inside out.
Roberley Bell: Inside Out
Opening reception: October 9, 6-8:00 p.m.
Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road
www.laumeier.org
