Sunday, October 28, 2007

bees'n'meat

LAUREN BON
BEES AND MEAT

OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE ARTIST
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27th, 2007
8-10 PM

ACE GALLERY LOS ANGELES

5514 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90036
T: 323.935.4411 | F: 323.202.1082

ACEGALLERY@ACEGALLERY.NET
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Lauren Bon exhibits her first body of new work since her 2005 "Not a Cornfield" public land art installation in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to Chinatown, where she transformed a stricken 32-acre abandoned railway yard-turned-brownfield into a sculpture of one million corn stalks for one agricultural cycle. In "Bees and Meat," Bon manifests the impact of "Not a Cornfield" through an incorporation of the viewer's five senses, recreating the physical experience of this "metabolic sculpture" where she initially became interested in bees.

Amongst others, the "Bees and Meat" sculptures involve the following items:

- 90 miles of irrigation stripping
- 33,000 pounds of dried "Not a Cornfield" corn kernels
- Two working wild hives and over 10,000 live bees
- A 10' x 3' aquarium of honey
- A dried lamb carcass fountain
- 21 cornstalk bales standing 9' tall
- A gallery of honey jar chandeliers
- A library of honey
- 1200 totems bundled in wood, cotton, and twine
- Beeswax sculptures
- A working study covered in tar
- A corn maiden sculpture
- Two bronze tanks oxidized on a sea voyage from Shanghai to Los Angeles
- 1000 whispered fears
- Over 6,480 hours of "Not a Cornfield" audio and visual surveillance
- 24-hour, streaming audio of living bees in the gallery
- Transplanted earth

These artworks display the outcome of Bon's "Not a Cornfield" undertaking, cumulatively revealing her post-installation insights, such as her interest in honeybees. Many of the rooms are filled from floor to ceiling with her artworks, occasionally spilling into the hallways, and dramatically alter the viewer's auditory and olfactory senses; sound is absorbed, smell is overpowered. Streaming, unedited video and audio of the growing corn supplement her installations, and fully transplant the viewer to Bon's 32-acre tract of fertile, pre-metropolitan Los Angeles land.

The bees' essential role in the aerobic manipulation of "Not a Cornfield" inspired Bon to research bees in ancient and world cultures, and her findings fueled much of her "Bees and Meat" artworks that ubiquitously employ honey, honeycomb, and beeswax. It is interesting to note that the fruit of the bees' labor is the only organic material that does not decompose.

Lauren Bon was born in 1962 and lives and works in Los Angeles and London. She received a BA from Princeton, a Master's degree in architecture from MIT, and spent over a year at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

© 2007 ACE GALLERY All Rights Reserved.
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Dear sibs et al--
Had to share this notice on a show. For the bee bit, but also Cornfield. Haven't thought of Carol Cornfield in a long time!!

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