“We change the work by being present, and the work changes us by being present,” the New York-based artist Sam Falls has said. “We are breaking down and being built up, just like every moment.” The environment’s cyclical nature is at the center of Falls’s oeuvre. He combines photography and painting to trace the impact of sun, rain, and temperature on the florae that surround him. The images he creates are often used to develop whimsical sculptures and ceramics, pieces that may remind viewers of rocks or sea shells. Falls is 39 and this is his first solo show in a museum. —E.C.