Brooklyn Botanic Garden Sculpture Show Inspired by Plants Set to 'Hypnotize' and 'Enchant'

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden will present a treat for visitors this summer with new sculptural installations.

The garden will host artist Jean-Michel Othoniel’s “The Flowers of Hypnosis” exhibition – his largest in the United States since he unveiled his work at the Brooklyn Museum in 2012.

Inspired by observations of landscapes and the natural world, Othoniel pays homage to the flora of BBG’s iconic Japanese Hill-and-Pond and Fragrance gardens as well as the Lily Pool Terrace with six sculptures.

At the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, three sculptures from Othoniel’s “Gold Lotus” series are works made of stainless steel and gold leaf that embody the spiritual nature of lotus flowers.

The Fragrance Garden will feature the artist’s “Gold Rose” sculpture which represents both the beauty of the garden itself, and also Othoniel’s recurring motif of roses reflected in his past works.

On Lily Pool Terrace, Othoniel has installed his “Mirror Lotus” work of two large mirrored bead sculptures placed atop the surface of the pools.

“Gardens leave a great deal of space for the irrational, the inexplicable, the extravagant; they are places of mystery, magic, and secrecy,” Othoniel said in a statement on Tuesday. “The large sculptures in gold and mirrors installed on the water are there to hypnotize us, to make us forget the world’s harshness, and to lift us out of the disillusionment of modernity and boredom. The garden of golden flowers is in between dream and reality, offering up, while you stroll through, a moment of reenchantment.”

The show will be on view from July 18 to October 22 this year.

BBG officials expressed their excitement for the new installations, saying Othoniel’s passion for gardens and natural wonders will only add to the beauty of the existing landscape.

“This exhibition offers unexpected sights and encounters around BBG, making a visit to the Garden even more enchanting,” said BBG president Adrian Benepe. “Brooklyn Botanic Garden is honored to share its world-renowned landscapes and gardens with an artist of international standing who shares our love for plants and gardens,” says Adrian Benepe, president of Brooklyn Botanic Garden.”

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in Brooklyn Paper. Click here to see the original story.

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