Transplant - Apple Gallery
This work took place in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
The work consisted of 100 potted poinsettia plants installed in a ten-by-ten grid pattern on the gallery floor on the beginning day of the show.
Each plant was numbered, and a sign-up chart was placed on the wall by the entry door for people to reserve altered and unaltered plants to be picked up on the final day of the show for free.
Starting on the second day, I selected plants at random to be esthetically altered in place with the likelihood that the alterations would harm or kill the plants.
This information was made known verbally to the visitors that select plants. I thought of these visitors as active collaborators.
A running journal of the show was written upon on the gallery walls every day which described the alterations completed, any pertinent related thoughts, physiological conditions and life experiences that might have been generated by the process. At that time, I was keeping a dream journal.
At approximately four days into the show, I began having nightmare dreams related to the show so intensely disturbing, I decided to slow and eventually cease altering the plants.
All of this was included in the daily journal notes posted on the walls of the gallery. When gallery visitors came to take away their altered selections none wanted to take any unaltered plants even though I encouraged them to do so.
Selected pictures:
Opening day arrangement
One of the more delicate minimally lethal esthetic transformations
Page found in the New Museum book for the 1981 show for Alternate galleries 1968 to 1970.c Pictured are two alterations and a gallery overview on the first day plus a text written for the New Museum book
