Lauren Davies is a San Francisco artist whose work focuses on our strained relationship to the natural world. Combining mixed-media sculpture and installations with drawing, Davies meshes dark humor with a “do-it-yourself” approach to materials and construction. Curiosity about slightly oddball hobbies and vocations such as correspondence course taxidermy and pedigreed dog breeding has been explored as subject matter. Scientific processes involving the counting of elements found in the natural world is also a preoccupation. Identifying the number of spots on a leopard or keeping a tally of how many icebergs are floating about in the Arctic oceans are of interest. Specific subject matter aside, each of these various projects combine labor-intensive studio processes with unusual materials.