MIAMI.- Renowned artist Mark di Suvero's enormous steel sculptures will soon rise over Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's world famous flowering trees and vines, lush rainforest and bustling butterfly garden. Fairchild will open Mark di Suvero at Fairchild, an outdoor exhibition of five massive sculptures including the never before exhibited Olompali, during the famed international art fair, Art Basel Miami Beach. The exhibition will be on view at Fairchild, South Florida's oldest cultural institution and the world's leading tropical botanic garden, from December 6, 2008 through May 31, 2009, at 10901 Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables, Fla. The sculptures in the exhibition are on loan from the Mark di Suvero Collection.

The five pieces being displayed among Fairchild's garden landscapes are: Olompali (2006), a 30-foot sculpture making its international debut at Fairchild before being shipped to China where it will be permanently located at the US Embassy in Beijing; Gnarly (2008), a 27-foot sculpture of twisting, turning steel; the bright red Rust Angel (1995), made from a single plate of steel; Open Gate (2005), 26 feet high; and She (1977-78), an interactive piece measuring 52 feet wide. With its wooden swinging bed, She is an example of di Suvero's desire to make touchable and accessible art with which people can interact. His sculptures were created with diverse spaces to engage the observer with changing dimensions as they approach it and move through it.

"Mark di Suvero is an incredibly accomplished artist and we are thrilled to bring his work to South Florida," said Bruce Greer, Fairchild's board of trustees' president. "Fairchild's unique landscape will provide the perfect backdrop to truly reveal these massive structures' complexity and scale."

Di Suvero was the first living artist to have his work shown in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris in 1975, and the first artist to have three major exhibitions at the Storm King Art Center in New York. His distinct, bold pieces can now be found all over the world. Di Suvero is a past recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center, and he received the 2005 Heinz Award for the Arts & Humanities for his commitment to aspiring artists.

Mark di Suvero at Fairchild is part of an annual exhibition series that supports the garden's conservation work and educational outreach programs. Fairchild houses the largest palm collection in the USA and internationally important collections of rare tropical fruit and cycads. The garden maintains an international conservation program, which works with more than 20 countries around the world to preserve some of the world's rarest species and tropical habitats. Fairchild's major art events have included large-scale exhibitions by world-renowned artists such as Fernando Botero, Roy Lichtenstein and Dale Chihuly.

"Historically, art and nature have always been linked, and people who enjoy one generally enjoy the other," said Greer. "Our goal is to provide visitors with a complete cultural experience in which they enjoy world-class art and one of the world's greatest living collections of tropical plants, while learning about the importance of plant conservation."