Unlike Jeff Coons giant flower puppy  which looks nice but requires constant maintenance - my new plant works would  be permanent works  that can live on the side of buildings or suspended between buildings Hence the title Su/spend - I carried out some experiments with a suspended spiral of air plants at the Baldessin Press last summer ( 2008) and these survived the horrid hot dry weather of 47° that can be suspended on or between buildings.

Also unlike other artists who work with plants I grow the plants - thousands of them. Often these are grown from seed in what has become know as the "Lloboratory". While the plants are very slow growing and can take 7 or more years to reach maturity from seed I gain an in depth understanding of the conditions that grow in.

Baldessin Press Nov 2008

I have been concerned about how many environmental artists make works that comments on the environment, but ironically fail to contribute to the environment.

So while the content of the work might comment on contemporary environmental issues we use the commentary to justify the use of materials and processes that affect the environment. As artists It is time we developed other practices that step beyond mere comment.

Recently I have also been questioning the understandability of our acclaimed art institutions like public art galleries and the gallery practice of collecting and maintaining work in buildings with high energy demands. In many ways it is just another aspect of the consumer society and no different than other activities like - housing estates, shopping center development, turban development etc. that many environmental art is critical of.

The idea that we can continually collect precious works and storing them in stable environments while also developing and building more new art galleries with these demands  is an impossibility.

Recent information suggest there are more people that have lived on the planet in the past 10 years than in all recorded history combined, and that the social structures of our cultures and societies allow more people to work on creative projects that in all recorded history added together.

For instance there are more art galleries exhibiting and collecting work now than at another time, there are more art schools producing more graduates than ever consuming greater quantities of art materials. Also the advances in technology have allowed artists to work at larger and larger scales -  photography for instance has evolved from small 8x10” prints to huge mural sized works.

I am not critiquing the creative process as a means of expression and communicating ideas – this is fundamental to humanity - but I do question the structure of how we do this in the future.

So this is why I am experimenting with new plant works which would not only comment but contribute. As seen in the plant airplane works below, living plant works can be used in ways that make critical comment but also contribute.  In fact rather than  adding to environmental degradation,  the process of maintain these plant works would actually create further organic living material to create other works on the sides more sterile buildings.

I have worked up some digital sketches for both the NGV and ACCA -  of a tillandsia plant airplane embedded into the side of the building which I showed at the Re Generating Community conference.

Super Sustainable city

find other plant works by the artist >>

Tillandsia Biology

Art & Environment - beyond comment!

Super - sustainable art practice is where the practice and work produces a greater environmental and or organic output than the work consumes. I am experimenting with living suspended tillandsia sculptures that grow with minimal water in hot and dry climates. The only maintenance required is the trimming the new growth which provides more material from further work.

In terms of new work and ideas on environmental issues and sustainability – As you know I am very passionate about this and always working on it.

As part of the concepts of this work I have been concerned about how many environmental artists have been making works that comments on the environment, but ironically does not contribute to the environment.

So while the content of the work might comment on contemporary environmental issues we use the commentary to justify the use of materials and processes that affect the environment. It is time as artists we developed other practice that steps beyond mere comment.

Recently I have been questioning the unsustainably of our acclaimed art institutions like public art galleries and the gallery practice of collecting and maintaining work in buildings with high energy demands. In many ways it just another aspect of the consumer society and no different than housing estate and shopping center development that much of the work is critical of - the idea that we can endlessly continue collecting precious works and storing them in stable environments while also developing and building more new art galleries with similar demands  is an impossibility.

Recent information suggest there are more people that have lived on the planet in the past 10 years than in all recorded history combined, and that the social structures of our cultures and societies allow more people to work on creative projects that in all recorded history added together. For instance there are more art galleries exhibiting and collecting work now than at another time, there are more art schools producing more graduates than ever consuming greater quantities of art materials. Also the advances in technology have allowed artists to work at larger and larger scales -  photography for instance has evolved from small 8x10” prints to huge mural sized works.

I am not critiquing the creative process as a means of expression and communicating ideas – this is fundamental to humanity - but I do question the structure of how we do this in the future.

So this is why I am experimenting with new plant works which would not only comment but contribute. As seen in the plant airplane works below, living plant works can be used in ways that make critical comment but also contribute.  In fact rather than  adding to environmental degradation,  the process of maintain these plant works would actually create further organic living material to create other works on the sides more sterile buildings.

 I have worked up some digital sketches for both the NGV and ACCA -  of a plant airplane embedded into the side of the building which I showed at the Re Generating Community conference with a marked reaction.

jardins de Babylone Paris 2010

Also visited the largest Patrick Blanc vertical wall  to date - 40,000 plants but it needed a bit of maintenance with many plants dead - maybe it was the winter and they replant in spring summer - seems the maintenance is quite high to keep the walls alive- (unlike the plants I work which need very little maintenance and minimal infrastructure).  So I can see the imagined problems with plant works like this that some architects have. I gained quite an insight into how they are doing it and that while my work offers less diversity of plant structure and texture my approach has very few maintenance issues which is a great advantage. The critical debate over Patrick Blanc's wall is growing here  - with many questing the use of chemical based water feeds to drive the work.

Nov 2011 - CH2 Building

Working with Ralph Webster from Melbourne City Council I installed a single Tillandsia plant in March 2011 on the wall of the CH2 building in Swanson St. The plant remained on the wall, it received on attention during this period and was checked when these images were taken in Nov 2011.

The plant was checked agin in May 2012 and the plants are growing well.