Celebrating a Legend

Sad to say, I will not be able to see this exhibition for myself. But if you live within striking distance of the New York Botanical Garden or have any plans to be anywhere near New York City between now and September 29, please do not fail to visit NYBG while “Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx” is up and running.

This amazing event has drawn incredible coverage not only in the trade press but also in the mainstream media. From Landscape Architecture to Vogue, from The Architect’s Newspaper to the Wall Street Journal, the amount of ink and pixels dedicated to this show, which opened June 8, has been atypically extensive – and consistently off the charts in levels of enthusiasm.

Even those who are familiar with the artistry of the great man will be impressed at NYBG by the context in which his life and work are placed. Not only is there a tremendous landscape display filled with plants rarely seen so far beyond the tropics, but the entire space – pathways, waterfeatures and plant arrangements – has been set up to capture the essence of the master’s style.

The landscape portion of the exhibition was organized by “guest designer” Raymond Jungles, the Miami-based landscape architect, long-time Burle Marx protégé and frequent contributor to WaterShapes. It’s the largest botanical exhibition NYBG has ever staged, and the overall exhibition includes much more than plants: There’s also a gallery featuring paintings, drawings and textiles by Burle Marx as well as a summer-long celebration of Brazilian music and dance.

In addition, there’s all sorts of information about Burle Marx’s passion for the preservation of Brazil’s native ecosystems, complemented by details on international efforts to fulfill his extraordinary vision of Brazil’s botanical potential.

In the photographs accompanying this brief text (all courtesy of Raymond Jungles, Inc.), you can see that there’s a lot going on in a limited space. My breath is taken away, however, by the patterned walkways leading up to the exhibition’s central waterfeature – essentially a sculpted-concrete mural with a streaming waterfall to one side.

I first saw this composition several months before the show opened: My wife Judy was reading an email from our daughter and I saw a photo Leah had taken of a large installation the fabrication shop where she works was preparing for NYBG. I said, “That looks a lot like a Burle Marx” and dropped Leah a quick note asking for more information.

The next day, she wrote that it was indeed for a Burle Marx exhibition at NYBG but that the drawings she’d transferred to AutoCAD had come “from some company called ‘Jungles.’ ” She didn’t know how it all fit together, so I immediately called her and heard all about the upcoming exhibition for the first time. When I stopped laughing and could explain my connection to all of this, she said “small world” and promised to keep me posted.

As more weeks passed, I read all I could about what was coming and became more and more excited about the event’s potential to push Burle Marx’s star even higher in the global design firmament. Hence my current depression at not being able to travel to see it myself – and at the fact that such an amazing exhibition hasn’t been accompanied by a major new book!

But do go see it in my place: This opportunity to immerse yourself in the artful, art-filled surroundings of such a protean talent is too inspiring to miss!