3 years ago
77
7
Posted On: June 26th 2023, 09:04 pm
Thank you to @aliceefisher at @guardian for including us in todays Design News 💕
Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski have brought delight to many dull urban sites with their work as public art curators. As the driving force behind @skipgallery , the pair have had these waste containers turned into houses, libraries and even held art classes in them. But their latest venture gives a new imaginative twist to city landscapes. They’re bringing flowers to the streets with their Graphic Rewilding project.
“It’s been shown that exposure even to pictures of plants has a positive effect on the mind,” explains Baker, whose art is used in this new project. “Patients who can see images of nature in hospital waiting rooms have lower levels of stress and anxiety. These pictures increase activity in brain regions associated with attention and emotion regulation.”
Baker and Borowski’s nature-inspired installations give building facades floral makeovers and add meadows to billboards. Their latest installation is their largest yet: an attempt to rewild London’s Westfield shopping centre with 8m-high wildflowers.
“About 10 years ago I had a breakdown,” says Baker, “and one of the only things that soothed my mind was drawing flowers and making art in forests. The journey of taking my intimate artworks and blowing them up huge has been immensely cathartic. I used to hide the images, almost embarrassed of them, that perhaps they would be judged as unmasculine, populist or shallow.”
Both Baker and Borowski grew up in cities, so the pair know how important any oasis can be. “We created a project blending art and planting inspired by Victorian pleasure gardens on unused land on a busy London road. People used the space, to play, to eat their lunch, to relax. They said that there was hardly any public green space in the area and that even our theatrical garden was a hugely welcome addition to their community. This isn’t isolated, we see this reaction time and time again, and it represents what we want people to get from experiencing our art.”
Commissioned by @artistic_statements for @westfieldlondon
Huge thanks to @afternyneconsulting @tamsindanielg @jenniferbeachconner 💕
Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski have brought delight to many dull urban sites with their work as public art curators. As the driving force behind @skipgallery , the pair have had these waste containers turned into houses, libraries and even held art classes in them. But their latest venture gives a new imaginative twist to city landscapes. They’re bringing flowers to the streets with their Graphic Rewilding project.
“It’s been shown that exposure even to pictures of plants has a positive effect on the mind,” explains Baker, whose art is used in this new project. “Patients who can see images of nature in hospital waiting rooms have lower levels of stress and anxiety. These pictures increase activity in brain regions associated with attention and emotion regulation.”
Baker and Borowski’s nature-inspired installations give building facades floral makeovers and add meadows to billboards. Their latest installation is their largest yet: an attempt to rewild London’s Westfield shopping centre with 8m-high wildflowers.
“About 10 years ago I had a breakdown,” says Baker, “and one of the only things that soothed my mind was drawing flowers and making art in forests. The journey of taking my intimate artworks and blowing them up huge has been immensely cathartic. I used to hide the images, almost embarrassed of them, that perhaps they would be judged as unmasculine, populist or shallow.”
Both Baker and Borowski grew up in cities, so the pair know how important any oasis can be. “We created a project blending art and planting inspired by Victorian pleasure gardens on unused land on a busy London road. People used the space, to play, to eat their lunch, to relax. They said that there was hardly any public green space in the area and that even our theatrical garden was a hugely welcome addition to their community. This isn’t isolated, we see this reaction time and time again, and it represents what we want people to get from experiencing our art.”
Commissioned by @artistic_statements for @westfieldlondon
Huge thanks to @afternyneconsulting @tamsindanielg @jenniferbeachconner 💕
Comments (7)
3 years agocatherine.borowski
#graphicrewilding #bakerandborowski #publicart #artcurator #westfield #flowerart
More posts
