City in a Garden
Melanie Daniel + Max Kauffman
South Bend Museum of Art
May 24 – August 24
Through vivid, immersive paintings and site-specific installations, City in a Garden explores the relation of humans to nature and the built environment. In Daniel’s psychedelic, richly-textured landscapes, figures inhabit otherworldly ecosystems in which nature runs riot.
In Kauffman’s work, a vocabulary of forms in vibrant hues recurs across paintings, drawings, found objects, and architectural space. While using two distinct visual languages, both artists draw on mythology, folklore, and personal association to create fantastical vistas that hint at narratives just beyond our grasp.
City in a Garden is the 2025 edition of SBMA’s biennial Conversations series, which aims to facilitate dialogue and collaboration between established regional artists and established artists from outside of the region. Kauffman was raised in South Bend and is based in Colorado, while Daniel is from and is based in British Columbia, Canada.
All photos here courtesy of Weeping WIllow photography
Melanie Daniel “Exile”
“Exile on Michigan Avenue”
Melanie Daniel “Rainmaker” & “Messengers of Things Passed”
installation view of “Topanga Portal”
“Changos”
Melanie Daniel “The Snow Keeps No Man’s Name”
“Ishtar”
Melanie Daniel “Yours to Inherit”
“You’ve heard me rap, now watch me dance”
installation view
Melanie Daniel “From Prow to Wake, Water Unbroken”
untitled window installation
Melanie Daniel “Mentor”
“Unbridled Growth”
“Disused Idol” & “Moss Artifact”
“Five Seasons and a few new micro Climates”
“Two Dog House”
Melanie Daniel “Scales, Soil, and Bone-creaks, Awakening”
“If By Chance our Vessels Pass”
Melanie Daniel “Raucous Ecology”
untitled garden installation/murals
“untitled (stained glass abstract)”
Melanie Daniel “Ageing Shaman”
“untitled staircase” & “Front Port”
“Disaster Awaits”
“River Side” & Melanie Daniel “Lineage”
Melanie Daniel “Sentinel”