Understanding Chickpeas

Exhibited at Salem Art Works’s Barn 2 gallery for our resident artist opening, Understanding Chickpeas, “My Weather & Bird Resistant, Steel Frame, Save-Smart®, Freestanding Purple Lasko Cool Colors 20” 3-Speed Electric Box Fan & Air Freshener” was crafted throughout my time in-residence at SAW.

Meticulously placed and sourced from throughout SAW’s campus, each blade of grass was mounted individually to the fan by hand. Reflecting upon my time living in New York City, and subsequently, upstate New York, I was captivated by the notion of nature as commodity. Thinking upon the moments where I would walk through boutique shops and department stores, finding sales for candles, artificial plants, fragrances, and air fresheners with every scent imaginable. I found humor in the idea that, for a species that has participated in so much continual effort in pushing away the natural world from the material, that we still contain within us all an almost spiritual and subconscious desire for the aroma of the natural world. The good smelling aromas at least.

My Weather & Bird Resistant, Steel Frame, Save-Smart®, Freestanding Purple Lasko Cool Colors 20” 3-Speed Electric Box Fan & Air Freshener, 2023, Grass on box fan, Dimensions vary.