Surreal Mixed Media Paintings of Nature Littered with Man-Made Memorabilia

Brooklyn-based artist Lauren Matsumoto explores how humans relate to nature in her Fauna and Flora series, which combines painting, drawing, and collage to symbolize the natural world's perpetual cycles of growth and decay. Each piece portrays an eclectic mix of birds and plant life paired with vintage-inspired memorabilia: chandeliers hang haphazardly from branches, old televisions and typewriters perch between boughs, and antique cameras, shoes, and bicycles burst forth from branches like leaves. Mixed in with these printed and hand-drawn objects are patterned details resembling toile, lace, and other Victorian designs.

Though the human heirlooms catch the eye, Matsumoto explains, “Fauna and flora are protagonists interacting with what humans leave behind in the environment–ranging from a Louis XV chair to a muscle car or vintage radio.” She symbolically shows the way our cultural history interweaves with earth's holistic life cycles, with our man-made artifacts at once transient and eternal, tangled up in the wild habitats where we put down roots.