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by Sabrina Maltese |
Bonsai School
Bonsai School, Kimura Nursery, Los Angeles, 2014
The term bonsai refers to a Japanese art form where miniature, ornamental trees are grown in containers that artificially prevent the plant from reaching its normal size. Caring for bonsai is a process; the trees are meticulously “shaped” by their “growers” through continual pruning, trimming, wiring, clamping, and grafting. The ongoing care for these potted trees can be thought of as a live form of aesthetic “finishing”. Situated here, in front of a former elementary school, the image echoes the site as a place for education and training. Bonsai School, Kimura Nursery, Los Angeles, connects to larger themes that run through Reisman’s work: where a concern and ambivalence toward humanity’s desire for perfection and its fraught relationship with the natural world is expressed. On view until June 30, 2016 This billboard coincides with Susana Reisman’s solo exhibition On The Surface at TYPOLOGY Projects (inside Artscape Youngplace, suite 302), from May 1 – June 12, 2016. |