G. Gessert Natural Selection, 1994-present dye sublimation prints with text selected leaves, 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 in. each leaf (detail) I began as a painter. The transition to plant breeding was through painting on Japanese papers, which absorb water and pigments in unpredictable ways. I became fascinated by how ink spots grow on unprepared papers. Watching them grow, and helping them along, I no longer felt like a lone artist, but connected to creative energies that already reside in materials and in the world. From ink spots to plant breeding was only a small step. Plants, like ink spots, generate themselves. My job is to facilitate
R. Hawland 1. The World in a Drop of Blood 2. Different Tenant 3. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Scorsese 4. The Recipe of Me 5. A Hundred Sows and Bucks 6. Golden Goose 7. Eve/Adam 8. Double Twist 9. Regarding the Use of My DNA 10. Round Trip Ticket 11. Big Trouble, Totally Fascinating 12. Hey Noble One!, 2000 Ink and watercolor on paper, each 11 x 17 in. (detail) I did not know what the words meant単genomics, genetics, biotechnology単and I wanted to find out. I make art to locate myself. For me, art is self-revelation, not self-expression. The thing I need to know is always at the end of the drawing, or at the bottom of the page. Genetics mapping and reproductive technology are compelling to me. Genetics hits in the potent intersection of personal and environmental disaster and healing. Creation, and destruction, at its root単how could this not interest an artist? We are the antennae. Here, we are doing our job. Big business, big money, big trouble = totally fascinating, and not necessarily a bad thing, even as I hear the sound of my own knee jerking.
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