Posted inArt

When Snakes Could Walk: Contemporary Artists Take On the Garden of Eden

In a 1483 German Bible, the Garden of Eden is depicted as a corralled green circle; Adam and Even are ejected from its manicured grass to a hilly wilderness, with a trail leading off into the unknown. This idealized interpretation of original sin sits alongside more modern takes on our relationship with our environment in the Museum of Biblical Art’s Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden.

Posted inArt

Artists Create Surreal Miniature Worlds

I’d been promised “enchanted landscapes, fantastic worlds, and strange encounters” and had already voyaged through wartime Italy, haunted hallways, Chuck Close’s art studio, and a seedy peepshow. Then I collided with all three at once. A sedentary carousel of animals and imps suddenly spun into a 3D zoetrope where the fiendish tiny people tried to stab giant snails and jumping fish and smash a bird’s eggs, while butterflies thrashed away to escape their missiles. A strange whirring, creaking noise accompanied the primal scene. It was perfectly otherworldly.