Grass\ ‘gras\ series engages in important dialogues surrounding consumption, sustainability, the environment, and public health. Cut from post consumer tin containers, the blades of grass reflect our consumer driven society which relies on purchasing and ownership as means to achieving happiness and success, neglecting the social, environmental, and health consequences of this attitude.
“There are an estimated 40 million to 50 million acres of lawn in the continental United States — that’s nearly as much as all of the country’s national parks combined. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, maintaining those lawns consumes nearly 3 trillion gallons of water a year, as well as 59 million pounds of pesticides, which can seep into our land and waterways.”
“Transportation Department data shows that in 2020, Americans used roughly 3 billion gallons of gasoline to run lawn and garden equipment. That’s the equivalent of nearly 6 million passenger cars running for a year.”
In addition to quantitative data revealing the extreme resource strain brought on by maintaining grass lawns, grass lawns represent the presumptuous nature of consumption. Grass lawns communicate the idea that one owns space, but that they don’t need to utilize it. It is a luxury and a display of one’s overabundance. Moreover, people regulate others’ behavior as it relates to their grass with “keep off the grass” signs to demonstrate the affordances of ownership and possession. Beyond the metaphorical and symbolic meanings insinuated by grass lawns, grass lawns are unsustainable, they drain the environment of its resources, treating them like an indispensable commodity.
Grass raises many points worthy of our attention and reflection in the West, especially as droughts and global warning threaten the environments precious resources.
Cut from post consumer, recycled tin cans each blade of grass is a printed with images and advertising. Ironically, Rance Crain, the editor-in-chief of Advertising Age, is quoted in Buy-ology, Truth and Lies About Why WE Buy that "Advertisers will not be satisfied until they put their mark on every blade of grass."
Grass lawns also require the use of toxic poisons such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides. The environment is at risk from these chemicals and so are young children who play on lawns. In fact, almost everyone is affected by the chemicals applied to lawns because they wash into our drinking water.
“Lawns are basically biodiversity wastelands,” said Collin O’Mara, president and chief executive of the National Wildlife Foundation. “We typically put a lot of chemicals on them, kill everything that isn’t Bermuda grass or Kentucky bluegrass, which contaminates the soil and leads to it running off into our waterways." ***
Add the pollution involved in lawn mowers and you have a huge environmental impact.
Recent issues in the news "touch on divisive issues like homeowner rights, property values, sustainability, food integrity and the aesthetics of the traditional American lawn."* The city of "Los Angeles is trying a new strategy to cope with potential water shortages" by "re-landscaping people's lawns, at a cost to the city of about $500 each, with no charge to the homeowner."**
Find out more below:
*The Battlefront in the Front Yard, The New York Times. Steven Kurutz, December 19, 2012.
** Losing the Lawn - With City's Help: Los Angeles Offers to Dig Up Grass and Install 'Rain Garden' in Push to Save Water, The Wall Street Journal, Hannah Karp, December 3, 2012.
***Governments could take decades to save species. Here’s what you can do now.
Grass \'gras\ video provides a deeper understanding of this sculpture's historical, ecological and cultural themes, grazing freely from the studio to suburban landscape. The construction and motivation behind the project is revealed, from cutting recycled tin cans in the studio, to the two day marathon where 32,400 blades of metal grass were inserted into the base.
Video by Will Zavala, Morsel Pictures.
To support this installation purchase the video CD (8:40 min) $15.95 includes shipping or watch online.
grass \gras'\sculpture series
Grass \gras'\ sculptures is a sculptural series focusing on grass lawns as the ultimate example of American consumerist culture. All sculptures and installations are available for purchase or exhibition.
A Yard of Grass, 1989
Square Yard of Grass, 1998
A Yard of Grass II, 2018
Work In Progress
This grass sculpture still isn't finished. It is a work in progress. I've been working on it on and off for years. It is about the symbolism of the grass lawn as domestic bliss and iconic suburban living.
Grass Postcards
Grass postcards are available for purchase.
Dimensions: 4.25" height x 18" length, or cut into 3 individual 4" x 6" postcards.
Three fold postcard format.
10 cards are $30.00 plus $10.00 shipping.
