You needn’t step inside a museum or gallery to view some of the finest artworks on display in Naples this month. Not one but three outdoor installations are catching our eye—two of them at Artis—Naples and one at Naples Botanical Garden. At the former, A Colorful Pause features a site-specific contemporary pergola by French conceptual artist Daniel Buren. Vibrant acrylic panels take the place of tangles of vines and flowers, and the effect is vastly different but just as beautiful. In contrast, The Four Seasons by American artist Philip Haas (catch his lecture at Artis—Naples in March) displays four whimsical 14-foot sculptures inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s paintings of the same name: Spring, Summer, Winter and Autumn. The “human” busts comprise fiberglass fruit, vegetables, branches, leaves and other such materials. Both exhibitions run into June.
Among the natural beauty of Naples Botanical Garden is Reflections on Glass. The exhibition, up through the month of March, features botanical pieces (like the water lily pictured), playful figures and ornate shapes crafted by prolific East Germany-born flamework glass artist Hans Godo Fräbel. In tandem, visitors can learn more about Fräbel in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary about his life on view in the garden’s Kapnick Hall throughout the exhibition. artisnaples.org, naplesgarden.org
