Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Art Culture Politics

  • The Bear and Me

    I wrote this essay for Humans and Nature on the resonances of William Faulkner’s “The Bear” right here in Brooklyn, a long way and a long time since the “big woods” of the south. But there are actual remnants of those lost big woods just down the street from where I live, which got me…

    mthew

  • Feral Brooklyn

    I spend a fair amount of time exploring Brooklyn’s edges. These border zones are absolutely agog with feral cats. Here a few recent sightings.The standard wild city feline is a black and white job. Tiger-striped numbers probably come second. But there are all types, including the long-hair below, who looked like a slumming debutant.A street-side…

    mthew

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  • Raven

    Jamie Wyeth’s painting “Raven,” at the show ending this month at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This is a large painting, something such images on the little screen never convey. Here’s what it looks like in context. By the way, Wyeth’s Herring Gulls are pretty good, too. Evidently he is obsessed with their eyes.

    mthew

  • Bestiary

    While perusing the plethora of Picassos currently found in Chelsea galleries (I recommend the P. & Photography at Gagosian) I came across this exhibit of Quentin Garel’s sculptures.At Bertrand Delacroix until Saturday. These are actually made of bronze.

    mthew

  • Feral

    Heading towards ‘Sconset on the Milestone Road will take you past the Middle Moors, which are nicknamed “the Serengeti” on Nantucket.This nickname is probably the result of too many nature documentaries and the lesson that they usually teach: nature exists somewhere else and is exotic, something to sit back and enjoy from your living room…

    mthew

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  • Rivers

    The Rivers of America series started in 1937 and ended in 1974. Sixty-five books were ultimately published. I recently tried reading the volumes on the Hudson, the Colorado, and the St. Lawrence, but I couldn’t get past the first chapter of any of them. They were too Forties for me, a whitewashed, cheerleading view of…

    mthew

  • Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

    I’m excited to announce this event. Please join us as Zane York and I discuss art and nature, nature and art, the art of nature, and the nature of art.

    mthew

  • Zane York: Curious Remnants

    Zane York at work. He’s having a solo show tonight through Dec. 14 at Causey Contemporary, 29 Orchard St. NY NY.The opening revels are from 6-8. I’ll be there.

    mthew

  • Bärenfähigkeit

    On the liturgical calendar, today is St. Martin’s Day. In the late Middle Ages, “Martin” was often the name given to bears abused and belittled in circuses and other equivalents of side-shows. This is not coincidental, Michel Pastoureau shows in his fascinating The Bear: History of a Fallen King. The Church waged a long war…

    mthew

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  • Boorujy: Passenger

    Wow! As I generally say when I see the large-scale paintings of George Boorujy. His show “Passenger” opens tonight and runs until December 20th at P.P.O.W. Gallery, 535 West 22nd Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10011. Click on image for larger version, but above all go see this work on the wall. I wrote…

    mthew