Maren Hassinger: Nature, Sweet Nature

Nature, Sweet Nature is comprised of two installations constructed with galvanized wire rope. Garden and Paradise Regained will each stand in rows at relative human scale; one near the entrance to the art center and the other within the Sculpture Garden. Garden‘s uncoiled ends fan out like tall ornamental grass while Paradise Regained is comprised of lengths of industrial rope leaning in a single direction. The movement evoked by the slightly curving lines creates a kinetic effect.

Rendering the metal malleable, Hassinger references the movement of reeds, grass and the wind itself. In particular, the dance of shadows cast on the ground by the curved lines of Paradise Regained will track the movement of time through the course of the day and over the year that it will be installed at Oklahoma Contemporary. The accessibility of the Sculpture Garden to visitors entering the building provides a space for what Hassinger underscores as “our tenuous relationship to nature,” connecting each viewer to what might be fragile or responsive in the interdependent nature of our ecosystem.

Image: 
Maren Hassinger, Garden (2020), part of Nature, Sweet Nature at Oklahoma Contemporary. Photo by Sarah Ondak.