Schroeder Romero & Shredder is pleased to announce two new exhibitions. On view in the Schroeder Romero space is Susan Graham: New Gardens while Shredder presents Cletus Johnson: Collage 1968-2010.

Susan Graham’s exhibition, New Gardens, features sculpture, photography and video that use strategies of pattern and decoration to poetically depict the eternal struggle between nature and technology. Central to the exhibition are Toile Landscape, a large scale installation of Graham’s delicate sugar sculptures, and the intimate porcelain Toile Floating Landscape sculptures. Mimicking the recurring patterns of complex pastoral scenes found on Toile de Jouy, these works depict clusters of invented flora interspersed with industrial structures such as transmission towers, satellite dishes, or even cell phone towers disguised as trees. Charming, delicate and foreboding, each small pastoral scene compresses nature and technology in a bittersweet attempt at reconciliation. Graham’s photographs and videos on view in New Gardens depict skies choked with flocks of airplanes, modern-day birds staking their claim on the atmosphere. These works showcase Graham’s deft touch and ability to evoke rich, multivalent narratives from a few simple, quiet gestures. New Gardens is Graham’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Cletus Johnson: Collage 1968-2010 presents a selection of Johnson’s beguiling collages, including collaborative pieces made with famed Black Mountain poet Robert Creeley. Johnson’s works are composed of deceptively simple materials inviting private, almost meditative contemplation on subjects of longing, erotic love and primal lust. Their quietude evokes a Cagean musicality, while a minimal juxtaposition of images wrings endless narrative associations. Envelopes containing black and white photographs of a woman’s breast are intimate love letters being sent and received, revealing a desire to both contain and set free the object of affection. Amusement park ride tickets are coupled with cropped images of naked male youths, granting the viewer permission to experience desire. Portrayals of Antinous –– Roman Emperor Hadrian’s lover –– as Cyclops become homorobotic emblems of a carnal hunger for an idealized beauty. Johnson’s collages show him as a master of the simple, poetic intervention.