Curated by John G. Hampton
Featuring work by Jeremy Drummond, Jocelyn Philibert, Barbara Meneley, Crystal Mowry and Robert Hengeveld
Neutral Ground Artist-run centre
September 10 - October 30, 2010
Margaret Bessai writes, "I pondered my own yard, while mesmerized by Robert Hengeveld’s sculpture, Kentucky Perfect. Hengeveld’s robotic lawn cares for a strip of grass by providing artificial light, periodic watering, and meticulous trimming as efficiently as a photocopier processes a 250 page document. My lawn also needs watering, weeding, and mowing to maintain a lush growth. It too bears no resemblance to the prairie grasses that once flourished in this region. Both lawns are emblematic of our Canadian relationship with the land and nature. But while they are both organic, are they natural? [...]
Indoors, Hengeveld’s Kentucky Perfect grass is seductive, conjuring the smell of gardens and soft places for bare feet to walk. It sends a contradictory message, as the strict nature of the care that sustains this lawn makes it impossible to walk on. The sculpture is fragile, suspended on sawhorses. The robotic watering arm and the vigilant mower-blade would cut anything in their path. Hengeveld discussed this contradiction during the opening panel discussion with Meneley, Mowry, and Hampton. Re-sodding his yard to create green space for his young family to play in tuned Hengeveld into observing the ritual lawn-care routines of his neighbours, the peer pressure to maintain a “perfect” lawn, and the many un-used front yards. When so much work is put into a cultivation that returns no obvious material gain one must wonder, why? he observed the ritual lawn-care routines of his neighbours, the peer pressure to maintain a “perfect” lawn, and the many un-used front yards. When so much work is put into a cultivation that returns no obvious material gain, one must wonder, why?"
Click here to read Bessai's whole article for Black Flash.
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