Van Gogh in the Rice Paddies

Abstract

The phenomenon of large-scale public art projects has gone viral. From corn mazes in agricultural lands and rice paddies planted in imitation and emulation of classical paintings to choreographed flocks of sheep, these projects often reveal a sophisticated degree of communal organization and the expenditure of sometimes vast amounts of human energy and resources. The widespread distribution of videos about these memetic projects on YouTube and other digital media networks means that they are familiar to millions around the world and engender others. To what end? In this article, Dr. Hipolito Rafael Chacon, Professor of Art History and Criticism at The University of Montana (USA), analyzes the rich gamut of projects that are currently documented online. He describes how these works resonate with traditions of land-based art known to art history and archeology, specifically how they relate to the land art, pop, and mass culture movements of the last quarter of the 20th century. Most importantly, he demonstrates how their diffusion via electronic media reveals a new and increasingly global culture, while pointing to the insufficiency of these media.