Albrecht Durer Der grosse Rasenstuck, 1503 watercolor

Inspired by the 18th and 19th-century artists who catalogued nature’s invention with obsessive detail, Kevin Duggan seeks out “feral botany” found off the beaten path. His starting point for this suite of “books” was Albrecht Durer’s 1503 masterpiece Der Grosse Rasenstuck (The Great Turf), which renders nine commonplace plants growing on a square foot of meadow. Duggan’s Turf is a success story of competition and co-evolution, as these weeds journeyed from Durer’s pastoral Europe to prosper throughout the globe. Departing from traditions of botanical art, Duggan uses extreme variations in scale and perspective, close-ups and contrasts, to yield a dynamic, plant’s eye narrative.

Each book deals with a different aspect of survival. Disturbed Land focuses on the concept of turf, exploring how weeds migrate, compete, and succeed where humans disrupt the land. Modern Meadow is a meditation on the idea that Durer could walk beyond the city walls to see these plants in a pastoral meadow, while today they thrive in the margins of human civilization. The third book, Flourish, approaches the reproductive strategies that enable these plants to prosper, the secrets of seed dispersal through the air and rhizome growth below ground.

Kevin Duggan’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; the Horticultural Society of New York, NY; the New York State Museum, Albany, NY, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY, among others. He has had residencies at the Marfa School of the Arts, Marfa TX, where he is working on a mural commission, as well as Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor ME; and COMENART/Huyck Preserve, Rennselierville, NY. He is a member of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society, the American Society of Botanical Artists, and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. For more information www.kevinduggan.com.