(Circulation) #1: PRIMORDIA Selected Works from Gregory Vershbow’s “The Alchemist’s Tree”

October 6 – December 30, 2015

A reception celebrating (Circulation), and the current exhibition, PRIMORDIA, will be held at the Kohler Art Library on Friday, November 13, from 5 – 7 pm. It is open to the public.

On display throughout the library are prints, production sketches (graphic and photographic) and selected research materials from the UW-Madison Libraries that relate to and are sources of inspiration for Gregory Vershbow’s artist book, The Alchemist Tree.

Both the photograph and the plant rely on light—the one to stabilize the image, the other to grow. Set in New England in the years 1891-1903, The Alchemist’s Tree tells the story of three scientists determined to recreate the ancestor of earth’s first plants by grafting together the pieces, pollen, and cells of modern botanical species. The fictional characters in The Alchemist’s Tree are guided by a literal interpretation of the “The Tree of Life.” Utilizing this metaphor as a schematic for the evolutionary process, they draw their experiments to extreme conclusions. Whereas art is ordinarily a celebration of man’s creative hand and nature reveals the beauty of the world untouched, here the plant-forms are the result of the botanists’ interventional tinkering in the development of nature.

This inaugural exhibition is part of an ongoing program, (Circulation), of the Kohler Art Library.   With the intention of creating a space within the library for the public presentation of new work by faculty and students, this program was initiated and designed in collaboration with Assistant Professor Matthew Bakkom, Professor Derrick Buisch, and Lecturer Gregory Vershbow.  (Circulation) will present shows on a quarterly basis.  For more information, contact Matthew Bakkom (bakkom@wisc.edu).

The exhibition runs October 6 – December 30, 2015

Image:  Pseudo-fern grafted to fern (Gregory Vershbow.  The Alchemist’s Tree. Vermont: The author, 2010)