The Agrifolk Art Movement: Let the Trees Draw!

We’ve seen Jonathon Keats‘ profound conceptual art projects before, and were blown away by their social relevance. The key breakthrough that led to Keats’ interest in the Agrifolk Art Movement was made at the MacNamara Foundation on Westport Island in Maine, where Keats was a fellow earlier this year. From his studio, Keats observed how spruce saplings moved in the wind– sensitive to their surroundings. He fastened a pencil to some of the tree branches, and put a piece of paper with each, and let the trees show their artistic abilities. You see, trees are non-sentient artists– so they don’t get tired like we do; their artistic output can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And Keats had a large supply of drawing implements– because he’s a conceptual artist, he wasn’t doing much with them, so providing them to the trees was a no brainer. Now that you’ve seen the first installment of this documentary, check out the second and third; and you can access the original press release here. I hope this project gives you the laughs it gave Josh and me.