The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is pleased to announce British artist Laura Ellen Bacon’s inaugural U.S. installation. Bacon is renowned for transforming raw, natural materials by hand into sculptures in both interior and landscape settings. Rejuvenation, measuring over 20ft. in height and made of more than 500 lbs. of willow branches, will be on view at the museum from June 23, 2024, through fall 2024.
As the artist explains, Rejuvenation was inspired by the organic growth of the willow plant, whose root system’s ability to store water equates to the inherent power of life and regrowth. The installation will climb along the large, four-story wall in the museum’s Hamilton Building atrium. Its organic shapes will embrace, surround, and engulf the building’s architectural structures, encouraging visitors to experience their environment in a different way.
“We are delighted to bring Bacon’s unique artistic language to Denver It sparks a fascinating dialogue with our recently opened exhibition Biophilia: Nature Reimagined, which, just like Bacon’s art installations, explores the ways in which nature inspires,” said Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the DAM. “The designs and elements of Bacon’s large-scale sculptures reflect humans’ innate bonds with nature, weaving shapes and materials together to evoke the structures and phenomena found in the natural world.”
The daughter of an architect father and a fruit grower mother, Bacon grew up on a farm in Derbyshire County, UK, where the artist still lives and works. Her surroundings and upbringing continue to inform her work through her site-specific creations that explore the relationship between natural and human-made environments.
“Working within the tradition of Earth art, an artistic movement that has been dominated by male artists, Bacon brings a distinctively feminine sensitivity to her work,” said Jill D’Alessandro, Director & Curator, Avenir Institute of Textile Arts & Fashion at the DAM. “Her monumental forms are intricately crafted through the repetition of simple shapes, transforming individual branches into mysterious spaces, both alien and familiar to the viewer. Despite their large scale, Bacon’s creations touch upon human experience to provide intimate spaces of temporary refuge.”
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This exhibition is funded by the Avenir Foundation Endowment.
May 28, 2024
