Natasha Wheat’s Kerosene Triptych (2011) is composed of three images, one each from the digital files of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Field Museum tropical research archive. The original photographs were taken by anonymous photographers, not as art but as documents of the building of the Panama Canal. The laborers in the images are holding cans of kerosene and spraying it into the foliage. It was a common practice during the building of the canal for American companies and the military to import black workers from the Antilles Islands to spray kerosene to kill mosquitoes and prevent malaria. This practice resulted in massive health problems for the laborers and the disappearance of many species of local wildlife—not just insects but also plants and animals. With this work, Wheat uncovers and generates a space where the movement of objects (the movement of objects being the function of the Panama Canal) takes priority over life, art, and society itself. The coming together of the three images into a single work stands as abstract documentation of sterilization—both cultural and biological.
Natasha Wheat’s diverse body of work explores social experience as a sensual phenomenon that is riddled with hierarchical complexity. Her objects, installations, and interventions engender and disrupt a full range of interpersonal relations. Wheat was the founder of Project Grow, an art studio and urban farming program based in Portland, Oregon, that employed developmentally disabled adults and investigated the intersection of food, ideology, society, and exchange. She earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA with an emphasis in social practice from California College of the Arts.
Primero estaba el mar ( First Was the Sea , 2012) is a system of equivalences between syllables and silhouettes of waveforms cast in cement...
In Studies of Chinese New Villages II Gan Chin Lee’s realism appears in the format of a fieldwork notebook; capturing present-day surroundings while unpacking their historical memory...
Orang Phebien: Telling the story of the Baweanese | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Illustration: Hadi Osni August 5, 2020 Lesser known narratives involving migration in Singapore are in the spotlight with The Arts House’ latest edition of LumiNation ...
Kastura (2012) is an installation consisting of 24 black-and-white photographs of the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto bequeathed by Kimura’s grandfather; free-standing structures on which they are hung; and ornamental plants...
In 1977, as an already-established artist best known for his films, Bruce Conner began to photograph punk rock shows at Mabuhay Gardens, a San Francisco club and music venue...
Supreme court ruling concludes lengthy battle over Franz West estate Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Artist estates news Supreme court ruling concludes lengthy battle over Franz West estate The Austrian sculptor's art will go to his private foundation, represented by Gagosian, overturning previous decision granting ownership to West's widow and children Anny Shaw 18 December 2023 Share Franz West in his studio, 2009 © roessle A long-running inheritance row over the estate of Franz West, reportedly worth more than $50m, has finally been resolved after the Austrian supreme court last month concluded that all of the Austrian sculptor’s art should be donated to the Franz West Private Foundation, which is represented by Gagosian...
National Academy of Design Presents “Sites of Impermanence” Skip to content Willie Cole, “Five Beauties Rising” (2012), suite of five prints, intaglio and relief (courtesy the artist) The National Academy of Design’s new exhibition , Sites of Impermanence , celebrates the contributions of the 2023 Class of National Academicians: Alice Adams, Sanford Biggers, Willie Cole, Torkwase Dyson, Richard Gluckman, Carlos Jiménez, Mel Kendrick, and Sarah Oppenheimer...
Comprised of fifty-one photographic postcards, Antin’s 100 Boots is an epic visual narrative in which 100 black rubber boots stand in for a fictional “hero” making a “trip” from California to New York City...