01/10/2019
KEEP OFF THE GRASS: A description and motivation
Upon walking into the space the viewer is confronted by a wall of figures wearing garishly colored inflatable costumes. The ground is covered with turf. On the wall to the left of the entrance is a 19’ neon sign which states “KEEP OFF THE GRASS.” The viewer can neither enter nor pass through the space without defying this seemly inconsequential mandate. KEEP OFF THE GRASS attempts to lay bare the structural machinations of the individual’s identity in relation to the collective.
The conflation of submission and defiance displays our hypocritical complicity in the formation of socially normative behavior. This work endeavors to highlight the fictional inconsequential nature of the intersubjective acts we play out everyday. The public spectacle of our private behavior is contrasted to our public behavior in publicly individuated spaces. By playfully creating a shared experience within individuated spaces I attempt to subvert the consequences of defiance.
