Sandy Skoglund: Enchanting Nature

Join us for a conversation with Sandy Skoglund to celebrate the publication of her new book, a playful and enthralling collection of the artist's signature unconventional dreamlike scenes and images. She will be in conversation with René Paul Barilleaux, followed by a signing.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

Can't attend? (please specify that you would like it signed in the comments box at checkout).

Sandy Skoglund: Enchanting Nature showcases the artist’s unconventional mix of sculpture, photography, and installation.

Known for her meticulous detail and playful repetition, Skoglund constructs tableaux with handmade objects, found materials, and live models to create visually striking scenes. The exhibition features two of her most celebrated installations—Radioactive Cats and Revenge of the Goldfish—alongside the debut of Fresh Hybrid.

For the first time, Skoglund presents large-scale photographic enlargements pulled from details of her well-known images. Complementing the exhibition is an AT&T Lobby wallpaper installation with imagery drawn from Skoglund’s iconic 1981 photograph Revenge of the Goldfish. The exhibition merges photographic imagery and gallery architecture, offering an entirely new way of experiencing Skoglund’s art.

The McNay’s commitment to the artist and her body of artworks spans over two decades, including exhibitions and acquisitions. Enchanting Nature is a deeply-rooted collaboration between the artist and the Museum, highlighting recurring themes in her art: the tension between the artificial and the organic, the environment, and interspecies kinship.

Published by Damiani Books in collaboration with the McNay and Paci Contemporary Gallery—and bearing the same title as the McNay’s exhibition—an accompanying book serves not only as the catalogue but also provides photographic documentation of the exhibition Sandy Skoglund: Enchanting Nature. The 64-page full color publication includes an interview with Skoglund by Laura van Straaten, a former contributing editor and writer for many leading art publications and sites, as well as photographs of the artist’s wallpaper hung on the McNay’s gallery walls.

Sandy Skoglund was born in 1946 in Weymouth, Massachusetts, to a Scottish mother and a Swedish father.

From 1964 to 1968, Skoglund studied studio art and art history at Smith College, participating in a study abroad program in France. Studying art history at the Sorbonne ignited her interest in avant-garde cinema, especially Cahiers du Cinema and the French New Wave’s auteur theory.

After graduating with a BA in 1968, Skoglund earned money for graduate school teaching junior high art in Illinois. The following year, she went to the University of Iowa to study painting, art conservation, printmaking, filmmaking, and multimedia. She graduated in 1972 with an MA and an MFA degree in painting.

Since the 80s, Skoglund has developed her vision as a conceptual photographer and installation artist with extraordinary tableaux that provide viewers with unexpected visual sensations. Her striking use of elaborate sets, hand-sculpted creatures, and live models has spawned unique images rich in conceptual and physical complexity. With unusual materials, striking color palettes, and clashes between nature and artifice, Skoglund invites the viewer into a compelling world of psychological suspense, provoking questions and leaving lasting impressions.

Skoglund lived in New York City until 2003, when she relocated to Jersey City, New Jersey.

René Paul Barilleaux has worked as a curator for over 40 years, focusing especially on the work of artists outside the mainstream or at mid- and late career. With a background in studio practice, Barilleaux’s curatorial interests lie in incorporating innovative presentation techniques to engage audiences in challenging and unexpected ways. Early years at the Museum of Holography thrust him into the world of alternative and non-traditional institutions. Since then, his exhibitions and publications have won awards, including an AAMC Award of Excellence in 2020 for Transamerica/n: Gender, Identity, Appearance Today. Barilleaux’s curatorial approach is collaborative and team-oriented, allowing diverse voices to construct an open and welcoming narrative for both exhibitions and collections development. A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Barilleaux shares his life with his husband, Tim Hedgepeth, and their dog, Lucy.

Barilleaux recently retired from his position as Head of Curatorial Affairs at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas, having served as Chief Curator (2006-2016) and Curator of Contemporary Art (2005-2016). While at the McNay, since 2005, he greatly expanded the postwar and contemporary art collection in range and number, while developing new collecting areas including photo-based work and installation art. He organized award-winning exhibitions and publications including solo presentations by Lynda Benglis, Judith Godwin, Jane Hammond, Joseph Marioni, Rashaad Newsome, Chuck Ramirez, Dario Robleto, and Sandy Skoglund, among many other artists, as well as American Art Since 1945: In a New Light; New Image Sculpture; Andy Warhol: Fame and Misfortune; Beauty Reigns: A Baroque Sensibility in Recent Painting; Made in Germany: Contemporary Art from the Rubell Family Collection; Telling Tales: Contemporary Narrative Photography; Something to Say: The McNay Presents 100 Years of African American Art; Immersed: Local to Global Art Sensations; Donald Moffett/Nature Cult/The McNay, and Michael Tracy: The Elegy of Distance.

Previously Barilleaux held curatorial positions at the Mississippi Museum of Art; College of Charleston, South Carolina; Madison Art Center, Wisconsin; and Museum of Holography, New York. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of Southwestern Louisiana (1979) and a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute (1981). In 2015, he was selected as one of twelve Fellows at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York. In 2016, Barilleaux was selected as one of five Mentors for the Association of Art Museum Curators Mentorship Program. In addition, he taught courses in art history and museum studies at the College of Charleston and Millsaps College. Barilleaux is current chair of the San Antonio Arts Commission.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, New York, United States