Chasing Bugs: Insects as Subject and Metaphor

Calculated to be the largest biomass of terrestrial animals, insects are a pervasive presence in our lives and our imaginations. This exhibition explores our abiding fascination with insects in science, literature, and the arts with images created from the late 1400s to the present. Featuring more than one hundred art works (and within those pieces often scores of insects), the exhibition is an extended look at more than five centuries of naturalists and artists representing the insect as subject matter and symbol. Just as entomologists continue to search for their elusive insects, contemporary visual artists continue to chase bugs for intriguing and meaningful metaphors.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website