Green Light: Toward an Art of Evolution

by George Gessert

How humans' aesthetic perceptions have shaped other life forms, from racehorses to ornamental plants. Humans have bred plants and animals with an eye to aesthetics for flowers are selected for colorful blossoms or luxuriant foliage; racehorses are prized for the elegance of their frames. Hybridized plants were first exhibited as fine art in 1936, when the Museum of Modern Art in New York showed Edward Steichen's hybrid delphiniums. Since then, bio art has become a genre; artists work with a variety of living things, including plants, animals, bacteria, slime molds, and fungi. Many commentators have addressed the social and political concerns raised by making art out of living material. In Green Light , however, George Gessert examines the role that aesthetic perception has played in bio art and other interventions in evolution. Gessert looks at a variety of life forms that humans have helped shape, focusing on plants—the most widely domesticated form of life and the one that has been crucial to his own work as an artist. We learn about pleasure gardens of the Aztecs, cultivated for intoxicating fragrance; the aesthetic standards promoted by national plant societies; a daffodil that looks like a rose; and praise for weeds and wildflowers.

233 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 2010

Reviews

[Tpy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awalnya hanya jokes ketika seorang jurnalistik, membuat karya seni dengan menggunakan keledai sebagai artisannya, dia mengikatkan kuas di buntut donkey tersebut kemudian menaruh kanvas didepannya dan memberikan cat dengan warna warna impresionis, masa seni pada zaman itu. dan memamerkannya sebagai sebuah karya seni. Inilah awal pertama kalinya seorang seniman menggunakan makhluk hidup lainnya sebagai artisan dalam mencipta karya. Lalu kemudian berkembang dengan memakai medium medium lainnya seperti tanaman, jamur bakteri dll, hingga terciptalah bio art.