A Place for Meeting Strangers, 2025; The Sugar in My Gum, 2012; Blacknightbowl, 2023  

Commissioned by Montalvo’s Lucas Artists Program, Nathan Lynch’s A Place for Meeting Strangers is both a functional sculpture (a ceramic drinking fountain) and a social prompt. It invites two people to look each other in the eye and drink together, spurring a charmingly awkward moment of public intimacy and connection. In an era saturated with discord, distortion, and division, it becomes a starting place for community conversations. 

A throughline in Lynch’s work is the significance of location. His sculptures transform the spaces in which they reside, inviting viewers to engage with their surroundings in new and unexpected ways. Lynch’s interest in the impact of physical space and his acute sense of situational irony is informed by the contradictory environment in which he was raised. As a youth, he lived in an agricultural community located in the shadow of a nuclear power plant—a stunning contrast between rural life and the encroaching industrial world. He also periodically visited the grounds of Montalvo, a place that brings back happy memories of summers spent with his grandparents. 

Stylistically, the work is a nod to Lynch’s teacher and mentor, Ken Price, an artist well-known for his abstract, curvilinear ceramic sculptures. The sensuous, swelling shape of the fountain heightens the surreality of sharing a physical space, embodying an often-elusive truth: strangeness brings strangers together.   

Read the full press release here.   

Nathan Lynch critically examines political, environmental, and socio-economic issues through his close observation of the habits and patterns that make up day-to-day life. Incorporating humor, irony, and storytelling into his sculptural and performance-based art, Lynch reveals the beauty as well as the absurdity of human behavior. 

The Sugar in My Gum and Blacknightbowl highlight the dichotomous relationship between what it means to collapse and what it means to support. Following the economic downturn of 2008, Lynch began constructing a series of works to serve as reflections on the concepts of accumulation and subsequent collapse. In The Sugar in My Gum, Lynch reminds us that the material world can be fleeting, just like the sweet taste of chewing gum. The work was made with an intentionally fast and heavy hand so that it would partially collapse under its own weight. The result is a striking visual representation of the ephemeral nature of physical objects. 

Conversely, Blacknightbowl is part of a series of works exploring what it means to hold and support something. Lynch was fascinated by how ceramic objects can supersede their functional purpose to serve as a social catalyst. In this work, the most dominant shapes of the bowl are reserved for its perimeter, leaving a visually quieter space in the middle that invites imagination and engagement.    

A Place for Meeting Strangers is displayed by the Grove of Generosity by the Creekside Studio near Parking Lot 1.

The Sugar in My Gum is displayed on the lower Front Lawn by the walking path.

Blacknightbowl is displayed in the Cottage Gallery, located near Parking Lot 2. The Cottage Gallery will be open Thursday to Sunday from 11am–3pm (or by appointment). If you would like to make an appointment, please email lap_programs@montalvoarts.org.