May 24 – August 24, 2025
Reception | First Friday | June 6, 5 – 8 pm
Through vivid, immersive paintings and site-specific installations, City in a Garden explores the relation of humans to nature and the built environment. In Melanie Daniel’s psychedelic, richly-textured landscapes, figures inhabit otherworldly ecosystems in which nature runs riot. In Max Kauffman’s work, a vocabulary of forms in vibrant hues recurs across paintings, drawings, found objects, and architectural space. While using two distinct visual languages, both artists draw on mythology, folklore, and personal association to create fantastical vistas that hint at narratives just beyond our grasp.
City in a Garden is the 2025 edition of SBMA’s biennial Conversations exhibition series, which aims to facilitate dialogue and collaboration between established regional artists and established artists from outside of the region. Kauffman was raised in South Bend and is based in Colorado, while Daniel is from and is based in British Columbia, Canada.
