‘leaves of grass’ by geoffrey farmer, 2012 life magazines (1935–85), tall grass, wood, glue dimensions variable courtesy the artist commissioned and produced by documenta(13) with the support of the canada council for the arts and the british columbia arts council all images by anders sune berg and courtesy documenta (13) LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer

geoffrey farmer: leaves of grass dOCUMENTA (13), kassel, germany on now until august 16th, 2012

canadian artist geoffrey farmer has created the three dimensional and sculptural collage work ‘leaves of grass’ for the 13th documenta art festival, which features the works of 200 artists and takes place every five years for a duration of 100 days in kassel, germany. the work spans sixty feet and is built from thousands of clippings from american image-centric magazine LIFE taken between the years of 1935 and 1985. each of the small photograph cut-outs feature various objects from advertisements and articles including politicians to products evocative of a particular point in visual history for the american journal. these excerpts from LIFE are affixed individually to thin wooden posts in order to properly display every image chosen by the artist from this fifty year period. the title of the massive diorama references the collection of poetry by american writer walt whitman and seems to exist as a field of identifiable visualizations representative of the american sense of self-identity through popular imagery during this era. 

LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer additional view picturing the color segmentation of the expansive artwork

LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer detailed perspective of the piece

LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer image via

LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer image via

LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer image via

LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer image via

LIFE magazine cut outs from 1935 1985 by geoffrey farmer image via