Paige Rawitz

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Herzog, Richard

Keywords

Plants, Bosschaert, Ambrosius, Haeckel, Ernst, Paine, Roxy, Art

Area of Concentration

Art

Abstract

There is an undeniable fabrication of reality that is present in the artistic representation of plants throughout time. I explore the mediation of reality present in that fabrication through the guise of Ambrosius Bosschaert’s still life paintings, Ernst Haeckel’s botanical illustrations, and Roxy Paine’s sculptures. I further that exploration by creating artificial plant-like organisms. The sculptures of “Uprooting The Engrained” derive from the imagery of existing plants and yet are removed by many factors including but not limited to material composition, structure, and implied behavior. Creating fantastical, artificial organisms propounds the viewer to question the validity of their preconceived meanings of words like organic and natural. The question of how aware people are of their relationship with nature and their imprint upon it motivates this body of work.

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