Photograph by Sammy Heller
The Nature’s Gift exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) in one word? Mood. The installation was created in the right way, with the entirety of the space brought into consideration and creates an incredible overall mood of restfulness.
When you enter the exhibit the first thing you notice is that it centers around a massive twenty feet tall blown up organic form, large bulbs and limbs branch out and connect in several trunks, the whole thing is lit from within with a steady shifting combination of soft light. The rest of the room is all black and along one wall is a slope with multiple bean bags. Along the ceiling running to the right of the bean bags sit twenty hammocks. On the opposite side flanked by a bar and gift stand sits a pit of bean bags.
As you walk through the massive stalks and the limbs criss-cross above you the image that comes to mind is a forest, a weird alien planet forest. The calming feeling is similar to the sensation you get as you walk through nature. Now this exhibit may sound pretentious at first glance but it is surprisingly down to earth considering that it is a massive contemporary abstract sculpture. Before entering the room I thought it was weird to have an exhibition so heavily tied to nature when the sculpture had no clear connection to the natural world, but upon leaving I understood. The whole space demands that you relax and reflect and as you sit staring into the shifting light you can’t help but oblige. The creators wanted that effect, the description of the piece at the entrance reads, “This playful environment is meant to bring people together in joy and contemplation.”
Everyone was happy. Everyone. People had pulled up bean bags to sit below the foliage and sip a beer with their friends, kids were running around playing hide and seek among the trunks. It’s as if everyone had taken a collective load off their shoulders when they entered. It was a break in the chaos that left me feeling refreshed and collected.
The best summary of its meaning lies in the plaque: “Nature’s Gift is living in the ether between human, plant, and the unknown. We brought this beautiful friend into existence for the joy of everyone who comes to be blessed as they play with this living, breathing creature!”