Mark Dion & Bob Braine
07 Jan - 18 Feb 2006
MARK DION & BOB BRAINE
"Neotropic"
Artists Bob Braine and Mark Dion have been close comrades and travel compagnions since attending the Hartford Art School together in 1981. Bound by a shared passion in the history of the biological sciences and interest in questions regarding the representation of nature, the artistes have collaborated on numberous exhibitions and publications. For Gallery In Situ in Paris Braine and Dion have developed a new exhibition which celebretates more than fiftieen years of travel and exploration together in the American tropics.
Since 1989, Braine and Dion have ventured into the tropics rainforests of Central and South America. Drawn by the phenomenally rich biological diversity, as well as the threatened status of the rainforest, the artists traveled to remote locations in Belize, Guatemala, Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil. Often these trips were shared with other artists, anthropologists, journalists or wildlife conservation professionals. These excursions ranged from project production trips for exhibitions, to journeys for pure pleasure and personal exploration. Unifying these explorations has been a complex consideration of the nature of travel, and an evaluation of the cultural assumptions and projections onto the jongle. Both Braine and Dion have produced major bodies of work based on their neotropical expeditions.
Bob Braine will exhibit photographs and drawings spanning the years 1989-2003. All of these works were generated during forays into the neotropics and range from urban tropical landscapes to depictions of compromised rainforest systems to documentation of field site projects and camps. These images are a small sample of the thousands of photographs. Braine has taken on these expeditions with Dion, and articulate Braine’s on going interogation of landscape genres.
Mark Dion’s interest in the tropical forests of south and central America stems from a keen identification with the field conservation biology as well as an acute passion for the history of Natural History. The Neotropics has a privileged place in the cannon of the biological sciences being a significant site of inquiry for the likes of Alexander von Humboldt, Charles watterton, H.W. Bates, Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin. One historical fisure, naturalist explorer William Beebe (1877-1963) has long been a source of inspiration for Dion. The works produced for « Neotropic » by Dion reference Beebe’s Department of Tropical Research Station established in Guyana in 1916 to study rainforest ecology.
© Mark Dion
Departement of Tropical Research, 2005
Objets divers
Dimension variable
"Neotropic"
Artists Bob Braine and Mark Dion have been close comrades and travel compagnions since attending the Hartford Art School together in 1981. Bound by a shared passion in the history of the biological sciences and interest in questions regarding the representation of nature, the artistes have collaborated on numberous exhibitions and publications. For Gallery In Situ in Paris Braine and Dion have developed a new exhibition which celebretates more than fiftieen years of travel and exploration together in the American tropics.
Since 1989, Braine and Dion have ventured into the tropics rainforests of Central and South America. Drawn by the phenomenally rich biological diversity, as well as the threatened status of the rainforest, the artists traveled to remote locations in Belize, Guatemala, Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil. Often these trips were shared with other artists, anthropologists, journalists or wildlife conservation professionals. These excursions ranged from project production trips for exhibitions, to journeys for pure pleasure and personal exploration. Unifying these explorations has been a complex consideration of the nature of travel, and an evaluation of the cultural assumptions and projections onto the jongle. Both Braine and Dion have produced major bodies of work based on their neotropical expeditions.
Bob Braine will exhibit photographs and drawings spanning the years 1989-2003. All of these works were generated during forays into the neotropics and range from urban tropical landscapes to depictions of compromised rainforest systems to documentation of field site projects and camps. These images are a small sample of the thousands of photographs. Braine has taken on these expeditions with Dion, and articulate Braine’s on going interogation of landscape genres.
Mark Dion’s interest in the tropical forests of south and central America stems from a keen identification with the field conservation biology as well as an acute passion for the history of Natural History. The Neotropics has a privileged place in the cannon of the biological sciences being a significant site of inquiry for the likes of Alexander von Humboldt, Charles watterton, H.W. Bates, Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin. One historical fisure, naturalist explorer William Beebe (1877-1963) has long been a source of inspiration for Dion. The works produced for « Neotropic » by Dion reference Beebe’s Department of Tropical Research Station established in Guyana in 1916 to study rainforest ecology.
© Mark Dion
Departement of Tropical Research, 2005
Objets divers
Dimension variable