LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA.- Descanso Gardens announces the debut of an innovative, immersive art experience by provocative artist, Adam Schwerner. Your (Un)natural Garden which runs April 16, 2022–Jan. 8, 2023, invites you to experience art in the garden like you’ve never seen or felt before. Schwerner’s work in the Sturt Haaga Gallery, Boddy House, and throughout the landscape will intrigue your senses and demand your participation.

“We’re so excited to be partnering with Adam Schwerner to present ‘Your (Un)Natural Garden,’” said Juliann Rooke, Executive Director, Descanso Gardens. “We love his aesthetic which combines art and landscape to create multi-layered experiences that spark discussion and challenge your perceptions. It’s fascinating to see how the Gardens inform and inspire his work.”

“My work deals with many different concepts,” said Schwerner. “Societal, psychological, environmental, biographical, philosophical. The current exhibition aims to channel these diverse ideas into a fun and accessible collaboration with visitors. You won’t see any 'do not touch' signs here. There’s no dress code. And there’s an invitation to relax and enjoy. Come play.”

Visitors will experience nine large-scale multimedia installations as they adventure through the gardens and explore the gallery and Boddy House. The installations include:

The Snakeaways: The Snakeaways are five independent treelike sculptures which act as demarcations for your travel and arch over the path to let you know that you’re on the right track. You can enjoy their bold colors and accessories and feel free to add your own touches of flare as you venture on.

Sturt Haaga Gallery

All the Bells: Walking through a sliver curtain, you will enter a large room with high ceilings and silver walls. The room is illuminated by red light. Red ropes hang from the ceiling and end in brass bells. These hanging bells take up most of the room, creating hallways for you to follow to explore the space. The bells are in perpetual motion and microphoned, so that their sound is projected out into the gardens.

This installation is a very personal one to Schwerner. The red ropes reference the red cotton cords worn by Buddhists, like his father, and symbolize detachment from worldly distractions. The sounds of the bells harken back to his childhood, which was filled with ringing bells and chanting. The walls are painted silver as homage to his artist mother, who painted the walls of their living room the same color when converting it into her art studio. You are encouraged to ring the bells and add to the music echoing throughout the garden.

The Uncomfy Room: You will hear a gastrointestinal cacophony of sounds in the Hallway before entering this room, and upon entering, you will be immersed in them. Once inside you will find yourself bathed in pink light. The room is covered in pink, including the ceiling, floor, and walls which will appear as if one is in a pink, furry bodymorphic cave. This VERY serious installation is sort of a Rorschach test for the viewer. Will you laugh? Be offended? Find joy and catharsis? Roll your eyes and move along quickly? Care to relax and contemplate life and existence? Stay a while.

Zeppelin Mass: Enter this room and you’ll find charred wood-lined walls and a gravel floor. The hanging pieces make a whole when viewed from a slight distance. Independent elements will evoke the shape of a blimp, still in flight, but perhaps about to crash. “Here is the climate disaster that we, citizens of Earth, are courting and the possibility for averting it,” comments Schwerner. Come in and experience this zeppelin on the brink. Listen to the sounds you make. Examine the patchwork of society. You are invited to explore the room, play with the noises your feet make upon the gravel, and travel between the hanging tapestries.

Boddy House Interior

The Boa Room: Schwerner’s mother used to love feather boas. They evoke fond memories of her. As soon as you enter this fun and whimsical room, you will be immersed in a world of soft color. The room is filled with colorful feathers; glued to the floor, loose and floating, and hung in boas from the ceiling. Jump in! Touch, tickle, play!

Agora: Sculptural Chairs & Meeting Table: This large room is a place for you to relax and congregate. The room is filled with chair sculptures, many of which reference historical figures and movements in the art world, as well as a central “Meeting Table.” Think of a campfire. A tribal council. A town square. A parliament. Here is a place for us to have the difficult discussions we’ve been putting off as well as the frivolous ones we’ve been craving. We’ve spent too long apart. Political and social upheaval amidst a pandemic has strained us, and it’s time to get to know each other again. Guests can feel free to arrange the table as they see fit…the dishes, cutlery and serving bowls are ready to be set.

Manor Library: Upon entering this room you will find this historical space demystified. The books have been shrink-wrapped to prevent them from being read. Large colorful cylindrical wormlike sculptures fill the room, providing a strange and comedic twist to the somber space. Schwerner made the maquettes for these sculptures while the pandemic was raging from supplies available in his home and studio. Move stuff around and absorb your surroundings!

Process & History Room: This metamuseum is a place where you can learn more about the exhibition’s creative process as well as collaborate with the artist. Here we display sketches, notes, and drawings that give you a glimpse of what went into constructing this exhibition. In the center of the room, ladders display art that guests, like you, have made in reaction to the exhibition and individual installations. Additionally in the center, you will find art Schwerner has made in reaction to your reactions. Join the conversation!

Adam Schwerner has worked for more than thirty years in the field of public and private horticulture and has the experience to create surprising, engaging and well thought out spaces that combine the landscape with bespoke art installations: these spaces become Artscapes. Adam has had the opportunity to assist many clients in this regard. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Ornamental Horticulture from Rutgers University and an MBA from Chapman University. He has worked to enhance public and private gardens, public spaces and corporate landscapes in California, Connecticut, Wisconsin, New York, Atlanta and Chicago. The exhibition is being produced in collaboration with JUST Design, Art Mafia and Pink Sparrow.