09 April 2022

Art by Taiko Chandler at the Denver Botanic Garden

Blue Surge, detail.

During a recent trip to Denver, we enjoyed an art exhibit at the Freyer-Newman Center, the research and exhibtion space wing of the Denver Botanic Garden.  The Indelible Garden: Prints by Taiko Chandler was on view from December 11, 2021 through April 3, 2022. The exhibit featured colorful monoprints and striking, large-scale undulating sculptures created from elements printed on Tyvek. Tyvek is the trade name of a non-woven polyethylene fabric commonly used as a house wrap and for rip-proof envelopes.

Gallery installation.


Contested Void, 2021.

Contested Void is made with organza (a sheer fabric), wire, thread and monoprinted Tyvek.  Now a Denver resident, Ms. Chandler is originally from Japan and according to the exhibit website her work is influenced by:

Recollections of the wild forests near her hometown [Nagano], her father's garden, and her mother's ikebana (traditional flower arranging) suffuse her artwork, finding form in the organic, layered shaped of her prints and installations. Chandler's plant-like forms are not intended as literal representtions of nature, but rather interpret its foundational influence on family and memory.

 

Contested Void, detail.

Frozen, 2017.


Frozen, detail.

 

Blue Surge, 2021.


Blue Surge, detail.

 
Turkeytail fungus on a rotting log.

Shortly after returning home, I found this turkeytail fungus while walking near my home.  Life imitating art?