DOUGLAS SCHOFIELD

Garden Antics

Douglas Schofield's current practice is focused on gardens, considering them intriguing sites of Nature/Human interaction. A familial history of gardeners and farmers, an upbringing in a rambling garden, and his own practice of gardening provide a source of intimate reference for his making. 

The 'garden' is a place of wild natural forces corralled and controlled in both subtle and obtuse ways. There is a tension in these sites of curated Nature. 

Gardens, both indoor and outside, point to a significant facet of the human condition; needing / desiring a closeness with Nature. In an Anthropocentric reality where human-impacted spaces are the norm, it is fitting that we cultivate sites that 'feel natural'. Garden Antics presents a light-hearted journal-like remembering of garden spaces and practices of gardening. The work playfully celebrates the obscure reasoning and activities associated with making and maintaining a garden, while also alluding to the innate wrestle with The Natural.