Confronted with a bright pink room at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., American artist Jennifer Angus knew just what it needed: hundreds and hundreds of insects arranged in lovely patterns like spirals, circles, and skulls.

The art piece is called “The Midnight Garden” and the show in which it is included is called “Wonder,” which will be available to view from mid-November through next July.

A professor at the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Angus says that her research “is driven by my interest in pattern,” which is clear enough from this strange wallpaper alone. She has often used insects in her work, having collected the creepy crawlies (always in an ecologically sustainable way) from locations all over the world. Never one to take a lifeform for granted, she also carefully reuses her stock of arthropods from project to project.

“Many people who visit my exhibitions were never aware that such unusual insects exist,” Angus says. “I hope that my exhibition will get them excited and perhaps they will be motivated to get involved with one of the many of the rain forest preservation projects out there. I would also like people to think about their own environment and behavior.”

According to curator Nicholas R Bell, “The concept of ‘wonder’—that moment of awe in the face of something new and unknown that transports us out of the everyday—is deeply intertwined with how we experience art. These elements matter in the context of this museum, devoted for more than four decades to the skilled working of materials in extraordinary ways.”
 

 

 

 

 
via De Zeen
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Day of the Dead’ decorating with awesome skull wallpaper