Lauren Bon is best known in Los Angeles for her Not a Cornfield Project, a "metabolic sculpture" which converted a Downtown 32-acre brownfield site into a million-stalk cornfield over one agricultural cycle. The project was a a highly sensorial, organic experience -- and surreal in this historic, urban part of L.A. that has been busy reinventing itself as a trendy, "East Village" mix of art and finance.
Two years on, Bon pursues her "metabolic sculpture" at the ACE Gallery with Bees and Meat, an exhibit that "Explores bees' essential role in the aerobic manipulation of Not a Cornfield, and inspired Bon to research bees in ancient world and cultures," says ACE's press release. "Her findings fueled much of her Bees and Meat artworks that ubiquitously employ honey, honeycomb, and beeswax."
With this show, Bon takes visitors onto yet another journey appealing to, and altering all five senses. Touch, texture, the sound of bees buzzing or honey melting, the smell of corn, honey, cottonwood -- all contribute to a multi-sensory experience, as Bon stages the beauty but also the decay of nature.
Photos above: 1. The Not a Cornfield Project in Downtown L.A. last year. 2. Chandeliers made of twine, wire, bulbs, beeswax and honey jars. 3. Bon explores the interdependence between corn and bees in sculptures such as the Honey Lady, which is made of beeswax and placed opposite a Corn Crypt (below) made possible by the bees' pollination process; the beeswax is itself a product of the pollen collected from the tassles of corn. 4. The Corn Maiden is based on a small carving given by a Hopi Indian to Bon at her Not a Cornfield studio, just as the first seeds were being planted by hand.
More surprises await the visitor, including the Totem Room below, "an ongoing project exploring bent wood, cotton and twine as reductive sculptures of human form and character."
Great show. With ACE's fantastic space as a prefect venue.[edit 12/09/07: Cornfield works finds new home in LAT]
photos: 1/2/4 LA Frog - 3/5 ACE
