Can you spot the pop culture references in these Adam Turman paintings?

Like a good puzzle?

There so many hidden pop culture references in the paintings prolific Twin Cities artist Adam Turman created for his latest solo show that you could turn a gallery visit into a game of “I spy.”

The entire playful body of work at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is new — inspired by time in nature, walks at the Arb with his mom, plus songs, commercials and TV shows. Called “Adam Turman: Did You See That ?,” it runs from May 9 to July 14 in the Arb’s Reedy Gallery.

For the show, Turman created 28 large, acrylic-and-spray-paint pieces on recycled theater panels, often using the AI image generator Midjourney as a composition tool.

“If I would come up with an idea, I would type that idea into an AI program. And then I would just see what the program came up with and what kind of art would be generated for me,” he said. “It gave me a basis to work off of with the silly idea I had. It’s been a lot of fun for me to work in that style.”

AI didn’t do the creative thinking, though. Turman came up with hidden twists in the spot where he gets some of his best ideas — in the shower.

“I get these moments where all of a sudden, something clicks and makes sense,” he said. “I call them shower moments.”

Many of the works present a little riddle. Here are five of our favorites. See how quickly you can spot a hidden reference or double meaning. Then, read Turman’s explanations of each work. (His words have been edited for space and clarity.)

Mr. Owl: This is probably my favorite piece in the whole show. When you see the title “Mr. Owl,” and then you see the Tootsie Pop — you put the two together. That’s a commercial campaign that I personally grew up with [”How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? The world may never know.”]. But I had no idea that a younger generation and an older generation would get it.

The other part of the story is that my family had great horned owls move into a nest on our driveway last fall. We called them Mr. and Mrs. Hoots. And you could see Mr. Hoots go and start hunting. He would go to the tallest tree in our neighborhood, and he would sit on top of the Norway pine in the moonlight. I would get my binoculars on and just watch him. He was so cool.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips: I wanted to relay some of the events and the bigger attractions that the Arb has throughout the year, and the tulips are a major one. Another thing I’m known for is doing artwork of Minnesota folklore. And Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox are huge parts of that folklore. I just thought of fields of tulips [and the 1968 Tiny Tim song]. Paul Bunyan is huge, and he’s supposed to make lakes from his footsteps. And Babe is enormous, as well. So just having them try to tiptoe and walk without smashing tulips through the tulip field is sort of silly. The idea is to make somebody chuckle and laugh and think “That’s not normal, but it looks kind of fun.”

Octopus’s Garden: This is an actual area at the Arb, the Japanese garden. Whenever I walk through that area, the water is really dark and black. I’m always kind of curious, what’s really under there? So, I put an octopus in there. Then I immediately thought of “Octopus’s Garden” and the Beatles, and then I thought of “Yellow Submarine” and thought that would be funny to put into the pond, too.

One of the last times I went to the Arboretum, I walked around with my mom, and my mom was a big Beatles fan. And she gave me all of her old vinyl records, the original Beatles records. And so I continue to listen to those. This is just what my weird brain thinks of sometimes.

The Masters: They’re four painted turtles on a log — but wouldn’t it be funny if they were Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo? This particular piece I thought like, I could go crazy. I could put a rat in it. I could put a pizza box, a manhole cover. ... I decided to keep it a little bit more subtle. I’m not trying to hit you over the head with the idea. This one is a little bit in the middle. They’ve got bandanas on so they are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it’s also just cute.

Send a Raven: Did you watch “Game of Thrones?” If you look closely, the raven’s message reads “Winter is coming.” And then in the background, there’s an area that has a little line on it. And that line is actually the elevator from the wall of Castle Black. I had so much fun painting this.

What: Adam Turman: Did You See That?

When: May 9-July 14.

Where: Reedy Gallery at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Cost: Included with general daily admission.

For more info: arb.umn.edu.