Urban Plough
Tropolism may have beaten me to the punch, but I've been meaning to get something posted on Arizona artist Matthew Moore for a while so I figured I'd better do it sooner than later.
In addition to being an artist, Moore is a fourth-generation farmer. He uses his family's property to visualize its future, to see what it will look like once developers take control. His most recent project, Rotations: Moore Estates, is an "earthwork [that] uses the exact map of the first planned community to be erected on [his] family's land." This map is planted with three types of grain, chosen for color (black wheat for the asphalt, reddish/brown for the houses, white for the background). "Every house and road will be depicted in the 42 acre field, as it will appear on the landscape in the future."
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
This sort of earthwork naturally reminds of crop artist Stan Herd of Kansas. In their different ways, each artist uses the land to comment on American's relationship to the land, Moore apparently in terms of how we live and Herd more in terms of our history, especially in relation to indigenous peoples.
Flyover Country
Moore's artwork will be part of the upcoming New American City: Artists Look Forward exhibition coming in the fall to the Arizona State University Art Museum.
In addition to being an artist, Moore is a fourth-generation farmer. He uses his family's property to visualize its future, to see what it will look like once developers take control. His most recent project, Rotations: Moore Estates, is an "earthwork [that] uses the exact map of the first planned community to be erected on [his] family's land." This map is planted with three types of grain, chosen for color (black wheat for the asphalt, reddish/brown for the houses, white for the background). "Every house and road will be depicted in the 42 acre field, as it will appear on the landscape in the future."
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
This sort of earthwork naturally reminds of crop artist Stan Herd of Kansas. In their different ways, each artist uses the land to comment on American's relationship to the land, Moore apparently in terms of how we live and Herd more in terms of our history, especially in relation to indigenous peoples.
Flyover Country
Moore's artwork will be part of the upcoming New American City: Artists Look Forward exhibition coming in the fall to the Arizona State University Art Museum.
That's quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the message plowed into a field just west of Offut Air Base in Bellevue, NE. You can use Google Earth and play around and find it.
Email me if you can't find it, I'll help you out: bk4prez AT yahoo.com
bryan - Yea, I saw that over at Google Sightseeing.
ReplyDelete