Factory Flowers (2017)
Oil on canvas 48”x30”
Rather than holding decomposition and growth as equal, many human industries like to pretend that production can happen without destruction. Conveyor belts visualize this mindset as seemingly endless amounts of matter move from place to place. There is no origin in these machines that have no beginning or end. The industries that rely on organisms for production have more control over life than ever. The advent of new biotechnologies holds life in a precarious state, capable of being manipulated at will. In “Factory Flowers” I distill a moment on a conveyor belt where an Asiatic lily undergoes several contradictions at once. It Is being created and destroyed, unmade and made. Its anatomy is dissected and objectified because abstraction is an important step in mass production.