The Flower King, 2018
Public Performance and Print Series, Print Guild, Eastern Carolina University, Greenville, NC
Flower King was a printed edition and public performance created in collaboration with the Graduate Print Guild at Eastern Carolina University. I used ECU’s newly acquired large format etching press and CNC cutter to create a large woodcut relief print that functioned as an announcement for an event that would happen in the future. The bold, colorful print that resulted was intended for public space and social media, and not a gallery space. The printed announcement became a system for an action which was later carried out and performed.
The event print announced the arrival of the “Flower King”, an anonymous figure that would pass through the small, quiet town of Greenville on April 22nd carrying an unusually large, cumbersome bouquet of flowers. The Flower King would meander the streets of Greeneville with no apparent destination. On April 22nd, just as announced in the print, an anonymous figure awkwardly carrying an oversized bouquet of flowers passed through town, surprising and bemusing the public.
Working with a designer, graduate students, faculty, and a class of undergraduate foundations students, we collaboratively developed the image and printed the edition. Designed to be hand-colored by various participants, each print had variation based on the participants and their color choices. This participatory element exercised Sol LeWitt’s belief that an idea itself could be a work of art and that the artist could delegate its actual production to others.
Special Thanks:
Claire White (project lead)
Students of the Eastern Carolina University Printmaking Program
Matthew Egan, Associate Professor of Printmaking and Foundations
Jordyn Summers (Designer)