Humans cultivate patches of earth for many reasons including aesthetics, safety, and sustenance. In the cultivation process, we negotiate sharing the land with animals, birds, and insects acting as both friends and foes. Garden Party: Nature on Paper considers the different ways modern and contemporary artists explore the complex relationship between humans and nature. Focusing primarily on the domestic garden, a semi-private space at the intersection of home and the wild outdoors, the works presented here highlight the sensual and emotional pleasures of the garden, the underlying tension between human control and nature’s formidable power, as well as some of the ideas humans project onto the environment to make sense of their lives.

On one side of the gallery, the compositions feature lush gardens, creatures that thrive in them, and products people harvest from plants and trees. The scenes express the beauty, abundance, and comfort nature offers. On the opposite side, the installation presents narratives in which the garden functions like a theatrical stage set for human drama and destruction. The images suggest associations with original sin and the Garden of Eden, memory and history, the body, and the threat of violence.

All works on view are from the permanent collection of the McNay Art Museum.