Kedl’s installation Atomic Germination features a colorful collection of biomorphic ceramic forms fanning out across the wall, flowering like an alien cartoon garden. Behind the humor and visual delight of this strange colony of organisms, the artist has conjured a hopeful narrative rooted in science fiction. Kedl imagines these creatures as biological batteries from the near future, genetically engineered to feed on the most toxic byproducts of human industry—micro plastics, oil spills, radioactive waste—and convert them into clean energy that can be harnessed to power our everyday lives. Kedl notes that the work offers “an alternative to the normal doom-and-gloom of environmental discourse and uses science fiction as a means of imagining a more hopeful future where human progress can heal the earth rather than harm it.”

Justin Kedl is a sculptor, cartoonist, and designer hailing from Centennial, Colorado. Most notably, Kedl was one of over 30 artists to work on Natura Obscura, an immersive installation at the Museum of Outdoor Arts in Colorado, and he was a Young-Artist-in-Residence at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Skælskør, Denmark. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Atomic Germination will mark Kedl’s gallery debut in the Boston area.