A few months ago, Washington museums and galleries were packed with images of natural beauty. But that season has passed. Currently, local art spaces are displaying rot, maggots and mold.

“I like (my drawings) to be ambiguous,” he says. “I’m not out make didactic statements.” And they are. Phillips draws places as simultaneously utopias and dystopias.

Looking at these early 20th century nature drawings is kind of like (what I imagine) going on a bad acid trip (would be like). They start out all fun and colorful, and the world just seems ...