Matthew Moore's City of Wheat

I used to be secure in the knowledge that I did not care for environment art, you know those giant earth based art projects that were all the rage in the 1970s. Well, this past December when I was in Phoenix, My friend Kade cured me of my snobbery. He showed me the amazing work of Matthew Moore. Fantastic stuff.  Matthew left the family farm for art school, but on a visit home in 2001 he was struck by the destruction of 400 acres of neighboring citrus trees - all in the name of subdivisions. His family was selling land as well, and Matthew obtained the plans for a future 250 home subdivision. He then recreated the homes and driveways at one third scale using sorghum and black bearded wheat. (link)

Comments

[Dale Hazelton]

I'll agree that some environment art is crap, Christo's Gates for one (how many people have his installations killed, anyway?). But true "Earthworks" are pretty cool. Any art that you can't be sold, resold or brokered and make a huge commission off, any art that is changed daily by the weather (Spiral Jetty is basically submerged forever), any art that uses Ma Nature as both canvas, medium and subject, any art that ultimately exists only in art history books and the minds of those who experience it is something kind of special. Moore's piece is perfect, utilizing natural materials to demonstrate our oversized-novelty-clownshoe-sized footprint on this planet. Bravo!