Megan Greene’s meticulous aesthetic is reminiscent of Victorian botany drawings—an appropriate reference given her strong interest in images of flora and fauna. 135 and 155 hail from a body of work in which Greene recontextualized traditional bird prints by renowned ornithologist and painter John James Audubon (American, 1785–1851). These works merge colored pencil and graphite with collaged materials, including pages recycled from a 1965 edition of Audubon’s The Birds of America. Greene’s intricate hybridizations reconceive the original plates, creating multilayered, intricate images; it is easy to get lost in the details. Organic elements become otherworldly, and playfulness overshadows purpose.

Label from Menagerie: Animals on View, March 11–June 4, 2017