Flowers have served as enduring symbols for beauty, transience, and mortality, while also being relegated to the realm of ornamentation, as lacking in intellectual rigor or depth. It is within our current moment—characterized by an invigorated resurgence of floral motifs in contemporary art, the erosion of the borders between what is considered fine art and craft, and the violence of our political context—that this exhibition takes place. May the endurance of flowers in art practices provide a way for us to look for paths through this time.
Curated by Théo Bignon, Floral Methods presents works by 14 artists and community organizers whose practices either engage with flowers or have been asked to respond to this theme. They are Fred Blauth, Nathan Bussard, Maria-Margaretta Cabana Boucher, Brad Callahan, Patrick Carroll, Dara Etienne, Flowers for Black Beloveds, Armanis Fuentes, kg, Adam Linn, Soren Lundi, Aaron McIntosh, Brent Nakamoto and Devan Shimoyama.
Together, these artists offer multifaceted contemplations, abstractions, and propositions ranging from queer botanica, Indigenous reclamation, domestic labor, tenderness, creative resistance, faggotry, memoirist impulse, and more. As Bignon puts it, the show is “a bouquet of sorts.”
Floral Methods opens at Bunker Projects (5106 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA) on April 4, 2025, and runs through May 18, 2025. Gallery hours are Thursdays, 5-7 p.m., and Sundays, 12-2 p.m.
If you’d like to support Bunker Projects’ mission to provide a safe, equitable space for emerging artists to develop their practice and create new works for exhibition, please consider joining our Bunker Commons program or making a one-time or recurring donation here. We are so grateful for your generosity.
