Weeds are plants that grow in places other than where humans determine they should be. Weeds are the bane of existence across North Dakota, now an intensively planted, agricultural paradise. An adjacent industry has arisen just to kill weeds. Legal wars ensue between environmentalists and agribusinesses. Weeds, these undesirable or troublesome plants, adapt and continue to flourish. They quickly occupy empty spaces, abandoned spaces, condemned spaces. Vacant lots fill with weeds.
Artists, however, relish weeds. They represent exuberance, vigor, abundance, a cornucopia bursting with life. Weeds project the power to take over the world. Even farmers, growers, and gardeners will chuckle at their nemesis, those unwanted and abhorred WEEDS.
Artists include: Francisco Alvarado, Kim Beck, Paterson Clark, Matt Collishaw, Joan Linder, Vivienne Morgan, Judy Onofrio, Eggert Pétursson, and Margaret Wall-Romana.
Vivienne Morgan, Altar of the Immigrants and the Bowl of Give and Take, 2017. Ten tea-toned cyanotype phonograms, poplar and basswood table, black walnut bowl, all made by the artist. All plants were grown and gathered from the artist’s garden where she collects English immigrant plants.
Patterson Clark, Index1312ptd, 2017, Alien weed pigments and handmade paper
Eggert Pétursson, Icelandic Flora by botanist Ágúst H. Bjarnason, Illustrated by Eggert Pétursson, 1981. Folio, 18.5 x 11 x 5 inches. 26.5 pounds. Bright cloth binding, gilt (ice color) edges, 6 ribbon page markers in black cloth-covered clamshell box. First edition of 500 with 271 gouache drawings, each copy signed and individually numbered. Loaned by Laurel Reuter
Margaret Wall-Romana, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Elemental Suspension, 2017. Oil on birch panel with metal leaf. Triptych, 40 x 80 inches. (detail)
Joan Linder, New York, New York. Hooker 102nd Street Book(Love Canal), 2013 and on. Ink on 6 Moleskin accordion notebooks, each 5.5 x 105 inches.
Judy Onofrio, Rochester, Minnesota. Twenty-one sculptures of Botanicals, 2011 and 2017. Cow bone, pig bone, small collected animal bones, horn matte gel, colorant, and bronze acrylic paint. Various sizes.
Kim Beck, A Great Piece of Turf, 2014. Graphite on paper 78.25 x 109 inches
Mat Collishaw, Whispering Weeds, 2011. Digital edition tailor-made for screens, video loop. Courtesy of Sedition
