The Landscape Tale from Agriculture: An Alchemical Treatise

I believe that the Western landscape tradition effectively distances the viewer (who is characteristically middle and upper class) from the outdoors and other people.Works such as Virgil's evocation of country life in The Georgics or the landscape paintings of Poussin are the product of both rising imperialism and an urban society. The allure of "simple country life" and its cult of authenticity draws present-day middle class Americans to wilderness preservation as much as to suburbia. We can reclaim our cities and make them livable first by acknowledging our rage, our desire to escape the banality and oppression of our lives. By offering resources for installation viewers, I want to support efforts at dynamic urban solutions to the perceived agricultural crisis.