How Land Artists Enhance Contemporary and Modern Landscaping

Exterior Worlds land artists create some of the most unique modern and contemporary landscaping designs in the city.
They feature a variety of accent that goes beyond the typical minimalist garden, custom hardscape, and abstract sculpture display. Our themes are developed around the architecture of the home using earthworks to link its motifs to surrounding zones of interest. While this works with all styles of Houston landscaping design, it works particularly well with modern and contemporary styles. Contemporary landscapes look best when designers take a less-is-more approach to accenting the yard. Overdoing details can be counterintuitive to the minimalist intentions of the style. Earth art, however, can superbly accent a contemporary property without violating the modernesque principles of its design.

This is because land art is so subjective that any form can be developed in accordance with the surrounding terrains and landscape architecture. Because they draw not only inspiration, but also many of its materials, from the surrounding land, land artists are able to create very unique structures with the simplest of tools. Earthworks such as a small wall made from decorative concrete, or a berm that supports a linear run of low-growth, drought resistant shrubs can add far more for definition to an empty stretch of yard than an outdoor display of abstract sculpture ever can. This is because earthworks developed from the yard itself, and made with the same materials as other landscape elements, are far more likely to appear as though they belong there than any work of art that was trucked in to simply be put on display.


This is not to disparage outdoor sculpture displays in contemporary landscapes. Outdoor sculpture definitely has its place in contemporary design, but it can only be used to a certain extent before it begins to overcrowd the yard. Houston homeowners who like the Spartan feel of contemporary design, but who also want their properties to convey a sense of warmth and personality, can hire land artists from Exterior Worlds to build far more individualized expressions of geometry, color, and form.

Homeowners who invest in this approach to contemporary landscaping can still display outdoor art without having to exclusively rely on it for color and vertical impact. This allows residents to enjoy the best of both worlds by shaping portions of the landscape itself into highly individualized works of art and using other areas to display such objects as metal sculpture, abstract statuary, and murals. Landscaping designers can also create an innumerable number of forms out of stone, branches, soil, decorative concrete, glass, and steel. This allows for a tremendous range of colors and geometry without violating modern landscaping commitment to a minimum of vegetation.

Contemporary landscape designs developed by experienced land artists tend to exhibit a greater sense of movement and connectedness than those developed purely with the mathematical principles of modern landscaping in mind. They also appear more unified with works of art that tie the various motifs of hardscape and modern garden design back to the primary aesthetic of the home itself.