Jonathon Keats: Pornography for Plants

You may recall some of Jonathon Keats’ previous whacky yet positively pertinant conceptual art projects — there was the silent ringtone, a 4:33 "interlude of digitally-generated silence,” and also the one where he observed the drawing prowess of “non-sentient” spruce saplings in Maine. Keats’ most recent project is admittedly a bit risqué, but heck, we’ll cover it anyway. Cinema Botanica: Pornography for Plants features the “explicit acts of cross pollination,” and is sure to solidify Keats as a motion picture mogul. In his quest to reach out to the plant species market — which just so happens to be much more vast than the traditional human market — Keats racked his brain to find the most alluring film genre for plants. His final decision was to feature plants in the salacious act of sex, editing his uncensored footage into a gritty black-and-white porn video. The trailer you see here is just a short, teasing clip of what you’ll see if you attend Keats’ showing at 1078 Gallery in Chico, CA, starting September 10th. Just remember… you may be battling a gang of eager saplings to get in the door of the gallery.