Teaching a Cow How to Draw
2020
Cedarwood
Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
@tanyabonakdargallery
Photo: Thomas Clark
Analia Saban’s modified fence acts both functionally, as a barrier between the seasonal cow pasture and the Clark’s buildings, and conceptually, as a 620-foot-long drawing in space. In the work, Saban illustrates various theories of composition found throughout art history, including the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, and two-point perspective. Consistent with the artist’s ongoing interest in found objects, this reimagining of a familiar structure also blurs the boundaries between what is and what is not a work of art. The artist, in her words, “connects the cows to the work of the museum,” expanding definitions of the viewer. In her wry title, Saban pays homage to Teaching a Plant the Alphabet (1972), a work by her mentor, the late conceptual artist John Baldessari. Baldessari’s video, which documents the artist giving an English lesson to a potted plant, asserts that anything can be art, an idea consistent with Saban’s own inclusive approach to materials and methods.
Curated by
@abigail_ross_goodman @mollyepstein1
@clarkart 
