Exhibitions
ECO TONE: COURTNEY EGAN FEATURING COLLABORATIONS WITH NATORI GREEN
Knoxville Museum of Art / 1050 World's Fair Park Dr. June 16, 2023 - August 27, 2023
Courtney Egan
Courtney Egan is a New Orleans-based digital media artist, photographer, and naturalist who blends botanical art with sculpture and digital technologies. Eco Tone is a show of Egan's botanically-themed, projected artworks, including new pieces in collaboration with artist Natori Green. The ethereal projections–converging on walls, floors, and sculptural elements and occasionally interactive–are inspired by the growing frequency of human exposure to nature via computers or television. Egan explains the fundamental irony of the experience, stating, “We get closer and farther away from the natural world simultaneously when we experience it through a technological lens.” Native Plant Rescue Squad (NPRS) also collaborated with the artists to select botanical elements for the latest artworks to highlight the rich diversity of the native flora in East Tennessee.
Egan’s installations deliver an experience that is both pleasing and disconcerting. She creates stunning yet “subtly impossible, hybrid tableaus” that envelop the viewer in a conversation between memory of the natural world and a new experience with a plant or flower. KMA Executive Director David Butler says, “You’ll never look at a plant or flower quite the same after seeing Courtney Egan’s magical imagery, which employs sophisticated technology to unlock a deeper and more meaningful way to experience nature.”
Courtney Egan is a New Orleans-based digital media artist, photographer, and naturalist who blends botanical art with sculpture and digital technologies.
Image: Courtney Egan and Natori Green, Care and Cultivation, 2021-23, HD video, projection, knits
Video: Care and Cultivation installation with Natori Green at Allumer Natchez, 2021: http://www.courtneyegan.net/extinct-in-the-wild-a-part-of-installation-at-allumer-natchez/
