pollination, 2015
“As pollinators, or rather “visionators,” we carry inspiration with us wherever we go, leaving our trace. When art finds a receptive mind, a seed germinates and vision is propagated.”
Pollination is a consilience of beekeeping, electronics, sculpture, perfume, illustration, photography, and commentary. Images of real and supernatural bees invite the viewer into a fertile exchange involving not only plants, but ourselves.
Dominating the exhibition is The Beekeeper, 2015 a floor-to-ceiling kinetic sculpture depicting the chakras, which are energy centers of the human body. At the heart of this auric portrait, motorized bees fly around an illuminated honeycomb with electromagnetic field lines rendered in brass. Above, a toroidal mind with mirror surface and crystalline third eye spiral up to a radiant sun of creative hands. Below, a landscape of sculptural electronics depict gut flora, and a powerful base of sacral and root chakras support the entire totem.
The Beekeeper as part of Pollination at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, 2015
There are two collections of artist-made perfumes. Bee the Flower, 2015 is a tantric olfactory experience designed to unfurl your kundalini energy and access the higher realms. Eight containers of jojoba and beeswax are infused with exquisite scents for each of the chakras. These scented pigments are presented in an artist’s toolbox with brushes and other instruments for body painting with perfume, pollen, and nectar.
The second collection of perfumes is political and cautionary. Industrial agriculture and anthropocentric “improvements” to the landscape threaten the pollinators that humanity depends upon for survival. Smells Like Money (Hungry Spirits), 2015 is a delicate perfume extracted from paper money using the labor-intensive method of cold enfleurage. Not surprisingly, it smells of bluejeans, leather, and metal. The used “petals” of money were fashioned into Spent Flower, 2015 and Money Laundry Soap, 2015. The metal content of the dollar bills was high enough that the lard spawned crystals on the surface of the soap. The jus for Smells Like Weeds (The Queen of Hungry Spirits), 2015 was made by steam-extracting bee-friendly plants foraged in rural Virginia. The perfume smells like the kind of humble nectar that bees love to eat.
Money, Lard, Flag, 2015. Photo of the enfleurage process to make Smells Like Money (Hungry Spirits), Spent Flower, and Money Laundry Soap. 2015
To compliment Smells like Weeds (Hungry Spirits), there is a vitrine filled with intricately sculpted plants. Weeds, 2014 is a lovingly crafted textile rendition of plants that are native to the Virginian landscape. While none of these so-called “weeds” are dangerous for humans, many people eradicate them with mowing or pesticides. The monoculture lawns and crops that people put in their stead are food deserts for pollinating insects. Perhaps, to our vital detriment, we prefer the exotic to the common?
It is easy to take our stable environment for granted. Earth’s biosphere is a magnificently complex web that has nourished myriad organisms for as long as we know. However, the recent acceleration of technology has enabled humans to profoundly meddle with nature. The consequences are widespread and unpredictable. Pollinators make good indicator species because they mirror the health of the flowering plants upon which countless creatures depend, directly or indirectly, including humans. Mysterious problems such as colony collapse disorder are worthy of our concern because they may indicate a deeper instability, like an ecological cancer.
Colony Collapse Disorder, 2015. Steel, brass, foam, epoxy, and paint. 76” x 120” x 60” The scene depicts a transistor, the quintessential decision-maker of electronic devices, looking onto a resistor in the form of a fallen queen bee. The red dot correlates with the year 2015 (marking the queen with a colored dot is standard practice in beekeeping).
Similar to the landscape, technology is infiltrating humans and changing our nature. Diseases of the Hive, 2015 presents unsettling photographs of people with electronic devices. Are they parasitic or symbiotic?
The tone is not all ominous. Whimsical kinetic sculptures mimic flying bees to celebrate the cross-pollination of technology and nature. The largest of these, The Wedding Tree, 2015 is a pastel landscape enlivened by buzzing, motorized insects.
Informal video of The Wedding Tree, 2015 and Kinetic Bees, 2014
POLLINATION (CATALOGUE), 2015
Kelly Heaton’s catalogue for Pollination describes an ecological and spiritual exchange of information in a world shaped by human agency. Through pictures and text, Heaton documents her cross-disciplinary exploration of nature, technology, and the supernatural. Artworks include sculpture, painting, sketches, electronics, photography, and perfume. Full of poetic text and beautiful imagery, Pollination is a journey into relationships that seed new growth. 97 pages
PRINT SERIES FROM POLLINATION
Sunny Honeybees, 2013. Three digital C-prints
The Human Pollination Series, 2015. Three digital C-prints
Diseases of the Hive Series, 2015. Three digital C-prints
unique photo Collage works from Pollination
The Monsanto Series, 2015. Archival inkjet photo collage. Each work on paper measures 12 7/8 x 16 1/2 inches
Study for an electronic sculpture garden, 2015. Archival inkjet photo collage on paper. 17 x 25 3/4 inches. Collection of the artist