The marvel of nature in an urban setting.

Swiss artist Claudia Comte has long been inspired by the wonders of nature. Her love of flora and fauna from different environments has resulted in magnificent sculptures in the form of cacti, coral, and leaves. Inspired by the 24 pin and red oak trees inhabiting Central Wharf Park, she developed this new body of work, Five Marble Leaves. The enlarged leaves are the product of Comte’s study of the varieties of oak in the park. The oak leaves’ “star-like” shape led to totemic yet whimsical sculptures carved from Carrara marble.

The five works are rendered in various engaging forms and placed along the path to the Boston waterfront as if they had fallen from the trees. The works reflect the seasonal cycle of leaves, falling in autumn and growing back in spring. Leading the viewer to reflect upon a woodland environment the installation highlights the often-overlooked miracle of nature. The five sculptures are complemented by six marble plaques bearing fragments of quotes by leading environmental activists such as David Attenborough, Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Greta Thunberg, and Paul Watson.

Recognizing that humans are above all emotional beings, Comte combines sentiment, play, and information to help engender love for nature and the environment. The lively sculptures are intended to rouse a warm, affectionate response toward nature. The artist welcomes the public to lay on, touch, and feel the works while nearby plaques bearing quotes by noted environmentalists highlight human interdependence with the natural world and the severity of the environmental crisis. Together, the quotes and sculptures provoke a deeper appreciation for the natural world.

Find fragments of quotes inspired by leading environmental activists scattered throughout the park and share your thoughts with #5marbleleavesBOS.

“The natural world is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”
- David Attenborough

“I have learned you are never too small to make a difference.”
- Greta Thunberg

“Intelligence is the ability of a species to live in harmony with its environment.”
- Paul Watson

“Each of us can contribute with our votes, our voices, our food choices, our skills and our dollars.”
- Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

“In nature, nothing exists alone.”
- Rachel Carson

“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”
- Jane Goodall

VISIT

Five Marbles Leaves is on view at Central Wharf Park across from the New England Aquarium at 250 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA.

The closest MBTA Stop is the Aquarium stop on the Blue Line.

Grid photos 1-5: (c) Faith Ninivaggi; Photo 6: Staff photo

Claudia Comte’s artwork has captivated art critics and the public in solo and group shows all over the world, including Berlin, Geneva, Copenhagen, Madrid, London, Vienna, and New York City. A native of Switzerland (b. 1983), she has long been inspired by her interest on the memory of materials and by a careful observation of how the hand relates to different technologies. Growing up near a forest, she has been surrounded by trees since the earliest days. As a child, she visited the Grand Canyon, becoming enamored with desert landscapes, and as an avid scuba diver, she developed a fondness for undersea environs. Her love of exotic flora and fauna from different environments has resulted in her creation of dramatic vibrant sculptures in the form of cacti, corals, and leaves.

Comte studied at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL (2004-2007) followed by a Masters of Art in Science of Education at Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland (2008-2010). Her body of work is best known for her site-specific installations. The artist's practice is guided by a distinct rule-measurement system of her own creation, wherein each artwork specifically relates to one another. Comte's minimalist approach to art making is equal parts methodical and dynamic; works are infused with a distinct sense of playfulness. Her artistic output incorporates a diverse range of mediums from sculpture, to painting, to various multimedia installations.

Comte has shown her work in solo and group exhibitions including; Desert X AlUla, Saudi Arabia (2022), Tree Line Curve, Rolex Learning Center, EPFL Lausanne (2021), The Dreamers, 58th October Salon - Belgrade Biennale (SB), After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen - Bornemisza, Madrid (2021), Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin (2021), The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn (2020); How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli (2019), Fruits and Jungle, König Galerie, London (2019), I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary (2019), The Morphing Scallops, Gladstone Gallery, 24th St, New York City (2019), Zigzags and Diagonals, MOCA Cleveland (2018), Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel (2018), KölnSkulpture #9, Köln (2017), La Ligne Claire, Basement Roma (2017), NOW I WON, Messeplatz, Art Basel (2017), 10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum Luzern (2017), Desert X, Palm Springs, Catch The Tail By The Tiger, König Galerie, Berlin (2016), The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, New York (2016), NO MELON NO LEMON, Gladstone Gallery, New York (2015), Easy Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2014), Sharp Sharp at David Dale Gallery, Glasgow (2014), If I were a rabbit, where would I keep my gloves?, BolteLang (2013) and Elevation 1049, Gstaad (2013).

Above: Claudia Comte © Andrea Rossetti, 2022. Header image: Charles Meyer

Curating for engagement

Five Marble Leaves is Now + There’s third collaboration with guest curator Pedro Alonzo who brought Oscar Tuazon’s Growth Rings and Jose Davila’s To Each Era Its Art. To Art, Its Freedom. to Central Wharf Park from 2019 to 2022.

Pedro Alonzo is a Boston-based independent curator. He is currently an Adjunct Curator at Dallas Contemporary. Since 2006 he has specialized in producing exhibitions that transcend the boundaries of museum walls and spill out into the urban landscape, addressing audiences beyond the traditional museum public. At the ICA Boston, he curated Shepard Fairey’s 20-year survey, Supply, and Demand. For the MCA San Diego, he organized the group exhibition Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape, which featured site-specific works inside the museum and throughout downtown San Diego. In 2015 Alonzo began to develop exhibitions designed to engage the public, starting with a citywide exhibition in Philadelphia, Open Source: Engaging Audiences in Public Space, followed by working with JR to place a gigantic image of a Mexican child named Kikito, overlooking the US/México border wall in Tecate. Since 2016 Alonzo has worked with The Trustees, Massachusetts’s largest conservation and preservation non-profit, to launch and curate the organization’s first Art and the Landscape initiative, resulting in site-specific commissions created by the artists: Sam Durant (2016), Jeppe Hein (2016), Alicja Kwade (2018), and Doug Aitken (2019). He is currently working on Amnesia Atómica, an ongoing project by Pedro Reyes, commissioned by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientist, centered to revive and reintroduce the issue of nuclear threat into the public narrative.

Building with friends

Special thanks to BRM Production Management for helping N+T, Comte, and Alonzo bring this project to life!

Embracing the site

Designed by Reed Hilderbrand, a Cambridge-based landscape architecture practice, Central Wharf Park is an urban micro-forest composed of 24 mature oak trees and sits between the New England Aquarium and the Rose Kennedy Greenway at 250 Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Boston. The park has ramped entry points as well as step up curb entries and is paved in cobblestones. The artwork is sited throughout the park.

• Boston magazine: Things to Do This Weekend, April 7, 2023

“This outdoor installation by Swiss artist Claudia Comte is a meditation on the wonders of nature, with quotes from environmental activists set beside its five large leaf-like sculptures. It also looks like a great Instagram opportunity.”

• Boston Neighborhood Network News: Park Reframed by Public Art, November 20, 2020

“When young people gravitate to it, and understand it, and engage it — kids are very authentic. They only gravitate to things that they believe in. That they feel comfortable with, excited about. So this is a sign of success.”

• GBH Arts This Week with Jared Bowen: A new public art installation by Jose Dávila, presented by Now + There at Central Wharf Park, November 19, 2020

“Visitors are encouraged to sit on and interact with the work (while still maintaining a safe, social distance), and Dávila sees the stones he employs throughout the installation as tied to our humanity, given civilizations’ reliance on them throughout the course of human history.”

• Art Daily: Jose Dávila reimagines Central Wharf Park to bring community together in time of pandemic isolation, November 16, 2020

“The work, which intentionally invites the public to sit, rest, and play, on and among the sculptural shapes, explores publicness in a time of social and physical distancing and encourages passers-by and visitors to decide for themselves the function and purpose of the installation located at 250 Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Boston.”

• WBZ Radio: New England Weekend, Sunday, November 15, 2020.

“It does call for us as a public to define the space.”

• WBUR/The ARTery: 5 Things to Do This Weekend November 12, 2020

 “No need for purchasing a museum ticket or fighting off crowds. Just head to Central Wharf Park across from the New England Aquarium to see Boston’s newest eye candy.”