Here’s another great chance to attend an eye-opening exhibition at Mirabo Press that will showcase the end result of a project by Lee Cannarozzo. The project entailed creating a garden plot (next to Hotel Henry) in the shape of a trapezoid that, when viewed at a particular spot (within the hotel), looks like a rectangle. Ultimately the plot was seeded with flax, which was then harvested for the production of artist paper and canvas. Cannarozzo has now made two-dimensional artworks that bring this project full circle, with his exhibition titled Slow Art: The Drawing A Blank Nonsites.
Earth art, landart, or environmental art, is not only grounded (literally) at natural site specific locations on the planet, it is also dependent upon the intertwined materials that encompass the work.
Aside from choosing the key location of the site on the grounds of the Richardson Olmsted Campus, Cannarozzo took into consideration the resulting “nonsites” that would ultimately spin-off from the process.
“Generally nonsites refer to objects made from specific sites or landart projects and not the sites themselves,” said Cannarozzo. “Nonsites are objects that generally stand in to represent the sites from which they came.”
As for this particular plot at the Richardson Olmsted Campus, this site was transformed into a beautiful swaying field of flax that was eventually harvested and used as art materials for the exhibition (farm to gallery art). Not only was this process resourceful, it was also environmentally sound.
“Drawing A Blank the land-based artwork and the nonsites that make up the Slow Art exhibition are primarily about monocular perspective, the development of localized forms of artistic materials, and the historic connections between the flax plant and the Western Art Tradition. I acknowledge that this body of work requires a great deal of patience and thought to appreciate, but my hope is that these works challenge people to think about the ecological cost of artistic production and how the history of agriculture is entwined with the history of art.”
And now that the project has wrapped up, the barren plot of land will be dedicated to urban farmers who will utilize the land to its fullest, by providing produce for the chefs at Hotel Henry… thus the circle remains unbroken.
To get a better idea on how this project came to pass, click here.
Slow Art: The Drawing a Blank Nonsites | Works by Lee Cannarozzo
Thursday, March 26, 2020
7-10pm
Mirabo Press | 11 Botsford Place, Buffalo, NY 14216
Gallery Hours by appointment, contact: leecanna@buffalo.edu
Learn more about Mirabo Press
Images: Photos by Lee Cannarozzo and Gabriela Cordoba Vivas
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