I just returned from a wonderful weekend in Fargo. Nefarious Hybrid will soar above the Plains Art Museum‘s Cafe Muse for several months as part of the Art=Food series. I wanted to share some photos of the install and finished work, interspersed with my thoughts on the development of the project.
I set off for Fargo on Friday morning with a Ford Focus Wagon full of felt. Soaring through rolling…and then flat…expanses of farm country, I pondered the months leading up to the project. The complexity of the space provided several formidable stumbling blocks (literally and figuratively!) and echoed the types of spaces that are typically the most challenging for me–the types of spaces that I want to avoid, but can’t seem to resist!
Unlike the typical white cube, the cafe’s architecture offered up plenty of obstacles in the form of beautiful exposed brick, soaring beams, sky-high windows, and pipes and ducts and mechanicals galore. Oh…and a cafeteria-style serving line and seating area in the middle of it all! How could I activate the space, creating a dynamic work that surprised cafe-goers…but didn’t obstruct the functionality of the cafe? How could the work speak to the unique attributes of the space without getting lost in them? How could the project use the building’s history, the cafe aspect, and the surrounding geography of North Dakota as points-of-departure?
An earlier site-visit allowed me to witness these challenges first-hand and start plotting my attack. The drive to and from Fargo proved pivotal in my thinking about the project. I considered the complexities of food, in terms of growing, distribution, and consumption. I thought about the history of food and how our relationship to it has changed. And somewhere along the way, I discovered the museum’s origins as an International Harvester warehouse. I considered the complexity of agriculture in relation to all aspects of food. I decided that I wanted the forms in the work to reference harmonious organic growth as well as more invasive organic growth. I headed back to the studio to experiment with forms that referenced the building’s site and history.
A plethora of images contributed to the final product, including, most prominently, the gorgeous but invasive mauve musk thistle and the well-camouflaged silhouette of an early International Harvester tractor. Whether or not these references are immediate for the viewer, they helped provide a logic on which the finished work is hinged.
Nefarious Hybrid unfolded over the course of two busy days. THANK YOU to everyone at the Plains Art Museum for your wonderful hospitality and assistance. A special thanks to Director Colleen Sheehy, Director of Collections & Operations Mark Ryan, and Plains Art Museum employee, artist and round-the-clock installation assistant Kaylyn Gerenz. You are the best!
Thanks for reading everyone. I’m back in the studio preparing to head south to Ruston, LA in a few short weeks. Please stay tuned!