Author: Newsroom
The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) present two groundbreaking exhibitions for PST Art: Art & Science Collide. Both Reframing Dioramas: The Art of Preserving Wilderness at the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park and Mark Dion: Excavations at La Brea Tar Pits open to the public on September 15, 2024 and will be on view for a year.
Mark Dion: Excavations is an immersive, uncanny installation of a behind-the-scenes museum space. Displaying new work alongside early museum murals, dioramas, and maquettes of Ice Age mammals, this playfully irreverent presentation is in keeping with Dion’s well-known meticulous yet mischievous approach.
The exhibition is centered around a 10-foot-long glow-in-the-dark sculpture of a pack rat “fossil” that stands atop a mix of natural and cultural detritus from the Tar Pits and the Hancock Park neighborhood. Six new drawings by Dion of mammal skeletons commonly found in the Tar Pits — artworks labeled with the names of locally important scientists, artists, historical figures, and landmarks — further blend artifice and reality, revealing Dion’s critical and satirical approach to museum didactics.
Read the full press release here.
Reframing Dioramas: The Art of Preserving Wilderness explores the history of dioramas and deconstructs the art and science that makes them so compelling. Set in a newly refurbished diorama hall that had been closed for decades, the exhibition features three habitat installations made by contemporary artists.
NHM’s historic diorama halls showcase more than 75 incredibly detailed habitats from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforest. Sixteen installations in the reopening hall feature animals and habitats from Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America — now fully restored and updated. Standouts in the hall include forgotten masterpieces of diorama art like the Snow Leopard and Tiger habitat groups.