Laumeier Sculpture Park is proud to present Mark Dion: Follies. Mark Dion has fashioned a world-wide reputation as an innovative sculptor and installation artist whose points of departure include the intersections of the historical and the contemporary, as well as the man-made and natural worlds. Mark Dion: Follies presents many of the artist?s architectural works, ranging from hunting blinds and storage sheds to mobile carts and shacks. These structures serve as fictitious bases for the enjoyment of nature and the study of natural specimens by scientists, botanists and naturalists. Visitors will experience sculptural installations such as Hunting Blind (The Glutton) and Hunting Blind (The Dandy Rococo), Dion?s elaborate takes on the outdoor protective structures used by hunters,as well as The Memory Box, a shed filled with dozens of keepsake objects stored in individual containers that suggest the ways that inanimate objects are associated with treasured memories. Approximately one dozen drawings, prints and photographs will round out the presentation.

Mark Dion: Follies debuted at Storm King Art Center in New York State from May 4 to November 11, 2019, and was curated by Storm King staff Nora R. Lawrence, Senior Curator; David Collens, Director and Chief Curator; and Sarah Diver, Curatorial Assistant. Its presentation at Storm King attracted many enthusiastic visitors and garnered coverage in the international press, including Artnet News, The Art Newspaper, Forbes, The New York Times, and the New Yorker.

Selections from the Storm King presentation are coming to Laumeier where its installation is being overseen by Lauren Ross, Executive Director and Dana Turkovic, Curator. Ross states: ?Laumeier is thrilled to bring Mark Dion?s artwork to the St. Louis region. His work is at once smart, funny, accessible, thought provoking, and perfectly aligned with our mission of engaging the community through art and nature.? Turkovic adds, ?I can?t wait to see Dion?s work here at Laumeier, the interaction between art and science, zoology and landscape, mixed with pre-fab architecture and thrift-store trinkets will nurture the curiosity of our visitors.?

Mark Dion: Follies is accompanied by a boxed set produced by Storm King, containing a publication in the ?field guide? style that is typical of Dion?s books, along with a glass vial containing a natural sample collected at Storm King, each of which is unique. Produced in an edition of 500, each box is individually numbered. The field guide publication includes texts on Dion?s work by multiple authors as well as reprinted interviews with the artist. The boxed set will be available for purchase in Laumeier?s Gracie?s Shop for $36 for members, and $40 for non-members.

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Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis