A living systems bio-art painting.

This living system’s work involves interaction and participation and then growth/evolution afterward through interaction with a natural environment as sun and water enters the system and fits into the category of interspecies artworks.

It was also meant to subvert the notion of the “precious” art object and further introduce chance operations into the work in the spirit of John Cage.

During the opening, people were given stones to throw at the painting (right side of the image below), thus exposing the bed of yams and potatoes to the paint injected into each egg.

I Yam What I Yam by Ken Rinaldo at premiere ATA Gallery San Francisco, California 1988

This living system’s work involves interaction and participation and then growth/evolution afterward through interaction with a natural environment as sun and water enters the system and fits into the category of interspecies artworks.

During the opening at the ATA Gallery, I was utterly overwhelmed by how exuberant people were. Individuals ran up and took bites out of the potatoes and yams, while others smeared yellow tempera paint on the frame and wall.

Seeing “passive viewers” transformed into active and emotionally invested participants was eye-opening, and set me down the path of questioning human/art/life interfaces and wanting more interaction.

I Yam What I Yam by Ken Rinaldo after growing for one month outside my studio at San Francisco State University, California, 1988

The living painting I Yam what I Yam continued to transform as it was moved outside, receiving rain and the sun.  Soon potato and yam leaves and buds bloomed.

Hungry California slugs later occupied this living systems painting, and ate much of the work, and insects laid their eyes within.

They loved it until it was gone.

This was, in many ways, a breakout work for me as it broke so many “fine art rules” of the day.

While it was an epiphany to create an interactive living-systems painting, critical reflection also suggested a form of interaction that was more rapid, evocative, and evolutive, and one that might involve the viewer much more.

It was also the beginning of a Bio arts practice that continues to this day.

EXHIBITIONS

ATA GALLERYSan Francisco, California, Oct. 1988 – Sep. 1989
RE-MOVING INVISIBLE BARRIERS ARTS FESTIVAL is a festival of 42 artists working in video, performance, installation, and interactive art.     

SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY, San Francisco California, 1988

KEYWORDS

living systems artwork, bio-art, interactive art, participatory art, soil art.