Nature, interrupted : 'Vivarium' confronts consumerism and environmental neglect

A vivarium is an enclosure, a mini-ecosystem captured in a glass

box for protection and observation.

It’s also Latin for “place of life.”

Open at the Albuquerque Museum, “Vivarium: Exploring Intersections of Art, Storytelling, and the Resilience of the Living World” corrals multiple works by seven artists observing a delicate balance of nature through multiple visual and cultural lenses.

Nature, interrupted : 'Vivarium' confronts consumerism and environmental neglect

“All of these works are all about telling a story, all intersecting with art history and centering in an interconnectedness with animals,” said curator Josie Lopez.

The exhibition invites viewers into a variety of environments, from depictions of a trash-strewn sea to charred trees and surrealism.

“They’re creating their own version of the living world,” Lopez said. “They’re also storytellers. They’re all creating animals within the storytelling in their paintings.”

Puerto Rican artist Nathan Budoff’s “El Abrazo” co-mingles a manatee with a bee and fish in front of a mountainous and strip mall-crowded landscape. Budoff places the animal world at center stage as protagonists, reflecting the past and present realities of climate change and colonization in his homeland.

“He’s always defying gravity,” Lopez said. “You don’t know what’s up, what’s down; what’s sky and what’s sea. They’re the individual moments when you see the animals take center stage.

“It’s very unexpected that you would see a manatee and a bee in the same space,” she continued. “It’s conflating sky and sea and land and how they are all interconnected.”

In “Detritus,” Julie Buffalohead (Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma) painted a mound of American flag-packed trash imprinted with words like “Indian Land for Sale.” Coyotes and rabbits cavort across its peak.

Houston artist Patrick McGrath Muñíz’s “Terram Ignoramus” nods to Delacroix with his packed boat carrying the Grim Reaper, a child and a Neanderthal over a trash-strewn sea. A polar bear, a pelican and a mastodon swim and wade in the water.

McGrath Muñíz’s paintings confront the viewer with the impact of consumerism and environmental neglect.

“The animals around the boat are going to be the survivors,” Lopez said. “It’s asking us to imagine what will be there if we don’t take care of the Earth. The question is, where will we find hope?”

Eloy Torrez’s “Meat” constructs a world blending surrealism (Salvador Dalí’s clock) as a woman cages herself in an upside down chair while a dinosaur bares his teeth menacingly.

“The chair creates this ironic protection from the dinosaur,” Lopez said. “So who’s in a cage? You can imagine a dream like this.”

Steven J. Yazzie (Diné and Laguna) painted “End of the Blue Sky” as apocalyptic commentary. A coyote stands on a chair while the forest outside the window burns.

“For the Navajo/Diné, Coyote is a character of transgressive power, a revered cultural being whose actions are often seen as a reflection of our own human reality,” Yazzie wrote in an artist’s statement.

The animals are taking over human space.

“There’s definite push and pull between the comfort of the chair and the death happening with the fires and the background,” Lopez said.

The show is the first of three exhibitions; the next are planned for June 2025 and June 2026.

“Vivarium” not only showcases the artists’ work, but serves as a catalyst for dialogue and action in the face of ecological and societal challenges.