On view is a grouping of Jeffrey Gibson’s signature brightly coloured flags, each featuring a different pattern, text, lyric, or slogan that draws on American history, queer rights, and Indigenous perspectives. First presented as part of the space in which to place me, Gibson’s 2024 exhibition for the United States Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the eight flags were arranged around the pavilion's exterior facade, disrupting its traditional architecture with a powerful and joyous presence. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson’s multidimensional practice emphasizes collaboration and forges new platforms for Indigenous voices and makers.

Nearby, Gary Simmons’ ‘Untitled (Crow 2)’ (2023) can be found in the farmyard outside Roth Bar. A painted bronze sculpture by the Los Angeles–based artist, the work continues Simmons’ long engagement with the imagery and stereotypes of American popular culture, which he has examined since the late 1980s to interrogate the politics of race and class. The crow evokes multiple references—including Jim Crow laws in the Southern United States, Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds,’ (1963) and the crow characters rooted in minstrelsy from Disney’s Dumbo (1941). Cast in bronze for the first time at this scale, the sculpture retains an intentionally raw surface, appearing as though it is still in the process of being shaped.

As a lasting tribute to our much‑loved 2025 exhibition, ‘Myths & Machines,’ Niki de Saint Phalle’s ‘Le Poète et sa Muse (The Poet and His Muse)’ (1999) remains proudly installed on the front plinth outside the gallery. This late work brings together the artist’s hallmark curvaceous forms with dazzling colors and tactile surfaces. Towering over 14 feet high, the sculpture exemplifies the monumental ambition of Saint Phalle’s mature practice. Two entwined figures dominate the composition, led by a triumphant Nana—the artist’s most iconic motif, first conceived in 1965 as a bold reimagining of the female form. Joyful, brightly painted, and defiantly exuberant, the Nanas subverted traditional representations of women in art, celebrating strength, vitality and sensuality.

Jenny Holzer’s boulders are placed in different locations around site, two of which can be seen on the pathway towards Marydown Copse. These works were created as part of the artist’s 2015 exhibition ‘Softer Targets,’ where Holzer inscribed seven boulders with lines from Anne Carson’s translation of the Greek poet Sappho’s love poems ‘If not Winter: Fragments of Sappho’. ⁠Made from a soft Purbeck stone, sourced locally, the boulders are intended to be weathered and eroded by natural processes, becoming an integral part of the landscape over time. ⁠

Coinciding with the exhibition, ‘Angel Otero. Agua Salada,’ our outdoor sculpture presentation is on view from Saturday 2 May through Sunday 18 October. The gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday, 12 – 5pm. Visit the garden Wednesday – Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm.