THE ARTIST PLANT CONSERVATORY

The Artist Plant Conservatory is a living archive of plants known to have existed within the presence of or have been depicted by a celebrated artist. The air taken in by the viewer is oxygenated by the same plants who provided air for their artists – the viewer is literally one breath away from the artist. 

Since 2017 Matthew Austin and Anke Riesenkamp collect plants and trees from the studios and gardens of artists, nurturing them in the greenhouse and nursery in New York and in ‘The Patch’ near Amsterdam.
Since the artist’s breath is woven into the fibers of the plant, visitors are quite literally “one breath away from the artist”.

The growing collection includes, among others: the yew tree that Piet Mondrian painted repeatedly in his pursuit of abstraction; the cherry plum with soft pink blossoms from the garden of Vincent van Gogh’s childhood home; the jade plant from Georgia O’Keeffe’s New Mexico studio; and the fig tree Salvador Dalí planted in Púbol for his lover.

We are working towards a public exhibition (forthcoming)

 “When life ends, it continues—endlessly and seamlessly” – herman de vries

 photography & concep