Christy Gast’s flowery missile sculptures at Locust Projects refer to the nuclear missiles that were installed in the Everglades at the time of the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’. Turns out that a former ‘donut-hole’ of arable land they were set on, now part of the Everglades National Park, was a US Cold War Defense site and the missiles have been replaced by full scale models- Gast’s 20’ foot long versions are also full scale but are covered in a riotous ’60’s looking floral design made by the artist using three specific plant types that took over the abandoned farmland-turned missile site. This gives her exploration into strategic degradation a kind of ‘triumph-of-nature’ happy ending. In Gast’s installation these nuclear missiles are effectively neutralized: turned into harmless flower-power replica’s, suggesting that nature (and even human nature) can neutralize aggression, defensiveness, and fear. Lobo’s vision of a contrived , artificial and toxic universe looks a lot darker and more plausible right now; but El Anatsui’s transformative practice, which suggests that careful collective action can create something sublime from waste. This has to be the most redeeming / solutional response to our environmental dilemma.
BELLE