Stephen Wirtz Gallery presents The Origin of Species, an exhibition of sculptural objects and installations by Misako Inaoka. Representing fantastical examples of imaginary flora and fauna created from artificial materials, Inaoka’s exquisite objects are arranged to mimic the display of artifacts in a museum of natural history or Wunderkammer.

Titled after Charles Darwin’s seminal work, the exhibition features an evolutionary tree wall installation that traces ancestral interrelationships between various hybrid creatures of Inaoka’s invention. Small objects representing animals of varying complexity are placed on shelves that represent specific time periods of development. Birds with extra heads and uncharacteristic protrusions are presented as descendants of a single, egg-like form. The final stage is represented by twisted hybrids of birds and four-legged animals such as deer and pigs. Specimen boxes present additional objects of strange and unsettling curiosity from nature gone awry. Some are equipped with motion sensors that activate the creature’s beak or wings and produce sound.