Brian Collier's science and art installations glow with archival, museum quality, but the information gathered speaks to the conceptual challenges of presenting wild "nature" and environmental impacts through formalized cultural conventions.
The ecological consequences of the introduction of the English Starling to New York City's Central Park in 1890, provide a forum for the artist to explore the influence of Shakespeare, Mozart and the Acclimation Society of North America on the rapid spread of this invasive bird.
The demise of a California orange grove due to a housing development, inspires an installation exploring "the 'nature' that is most accessible to humans in contemporary societies: in parks, zoos, natural history museums, back yards, and agricultural areas. It is isolated, analyzed, filtered, dissected, categorized, classified, idealized, and edited."
A collection of ocean samples in "Some Properties of Water", inspires the artist to question whether the gallery installation is ultimately erasing the water's "ocean-ness in this act of removing its 'vastness' and its 'enigma'? By removing many different samples from their original contexts and displaying them together in a homogeneous manner, can I produce a situation where ocean and puddle evoke the same perceptual experience?"
Collier's . .(Read more)
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