Why documentation?

The primary reason for documentation is to show that I have, in fact, done something. (In fact, I document everything I do. I am obsessed with time and how I use it, something most people with A.D.D. can identify with.)

As pertains to my garden, WeodGeard, since it began as an art project, documenting is the means of communicating to my audience. I keep track of growth cycles of the various species of weeds and the changes that occur in the garden not only throughout the year but from year to year, as each year a different weed dominates. It's fascinating and my desire is to communicate my fascination to others in a visual, artistic way, rather than simple descriptions of botany. It can be cumbersome, however, since I am struggling with the best way to present the project. For example, there are 12 different planters, all with their own story, over seven years. Plus, I have been on a 12 year obsession to identify every weed I see, and there are hundreds. During that time I have taken nearly 60,000 photographs. (That's the biggest problem with digital cameras and not having to buy film. I buy external storage drives instead.) That's a lot of material. The issue then becomes, how to present it. Videos? A book? Installation? I am seriously struggling with "the product".

But nothing happens without the documentation first.

I use both my phone (Samsung Note 8 - though soon to upgrade because the new Note has an awesome camera) and a Canon 80D. For most things, the Note works fine, but it can't get close to the detail that the Canon can (we'll see with the upgrade). On the other hand, I am only beginning to understand all the Canon can do.

I also use photographs to paint from. Using my computer screen, I can blow something up easily to see just what's going on in that elusive shadow area.

I have never considered myself to be a photographer, but I am working on getting better at it. And so far, I am terrible at videography. It's simply painful to watch my videos. Hopefully that will improve over time.

Oh, by the way, the music in the video is "Pampa" and "La Vuelta" by Gustavo Santaolalla from his album Ronroco.

Why Weeds?

In 2009, I began the Planters Project. Essentially, it entailed filling planters with “wild” dirt taken from various neglected or disturbed areas around my studio in Medford and adjoining burgs and seeing what would grow. The idea had been percolating for some time, and it came from two major sources. 

The first source is Mel Chin, whom I read about in the book, Art At The Edge And Over, by Linda Weintraub. He had an interesting problem. He was seeking to reclaim a portion of land from contamination using alternative processes and sought funding from the EPA. The EPA turned him down, so he sought funding from the NEA, who agreed. (Which proves the much debated point that Art is defined by its funding.) The second influence, and more directly so, is Roxy Paine, who had a show at The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, in which he included work from his “replicant” series - realistic sculptural recreations of gardens in various states of neglect. 

What I found intriguing in both cases was the use of growing things as part of a piece. True, I don’t think that is what Chin’s or Paine’s work is about, but that is what I took from them. 

On the other hand, why they influenced me, I haven't a clue. Other than having a  preponderance of earth signs, it just may be that, having grown up barefoot in Southern California and now living in the urban zone, it allowed me to get real dirt under my fingernails. 

I struggled with the whole “Is this art?” question, so I put some token sculptural element in the planters with the notion that said sculpture element would be engulfed and eventually obscured by the growth. I suppose it has to do with the marks of Man vs. the marks of Nature, which is a totally boring discussion ranging from Eden to Apocalypse, and we’ve all heard it before. It became something quite different. 

What poured out of the dirt over the next several months amazed me. Not just the growth of X, but the growth and death of X, then the growth of Y taking its place. What began as the pursuit of one idea - to see how the weeds would obscure our monuments - became how the landscape within the planter itself changed throughout the season. If one of the purposes of Art is to abstract from Life details that draw attention to things often overlooked, then the changing nature of Nature is the real subject here.  

Over the next several years, the shapes and sizes of my planters changed from small garden planters to those built into the earth itself. In thinking of this show, and how I wanted to have planters in it, last year I made two planters on wheels, Katonka and Lucy, as seen above. 

When I began doing the write-up of the first season in 2009, I realized I did not know the names of any of the weeds except the dandelion. That seemed immoral, so since 2009, I've been obsessed with identifying every weed I see. That meant taking lots of photographs. As I reviewed my photos, I became interested in drawing, then painting, these wild, urban plants. Some of the photos intrigued me because they took on elements of my college studies in Abstract Expressionism, namely the all-over image pressed up flat against the picture plane. I called these “Footscapes” because they are what you see when you look down in front of your feet. That angle, devoid of horizon, was an interesting way to approach the structure of landscape. And of course I have violated the “flatness” by attempting to reveal the spacial passages from bud to dirt. 

Finally, there is nothing political in my work. There is much to be said about caring for the environment, but that is not what my work is about. It is only about being amazed by observing what is happening positively around us all the time. 

ABOUT JIM BANKS

It is the 'making' that excites Jim Banks. Throughout his career, Banks has pursued several bodies of work through painting, sculpture, computer, and conceptual projects. Banks' strategy is to gain artistic understanding by pursuing as many avenues as possible, jumping from idea to idea. Materials, techniques, and imagery all become elements of exploration. His focus has not been on the coherence of one project to the next, but of what makes each individual work of art good. The meaning of what he does, he leaves to the viewer.

Banks was studying Mathematics and Psychology at UCLA while subsequently earning a degree in Psychology of Art at Bard College when he discovered the joy of making art. Banks has shown in Honolulu, San Antonio, Memphis, and cities in the Boston area, including Cambridge, Lynn, and Provincetown. Awards include Cambridge Art Association Artist of the Year 2020, Best 3D Award at the Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show 2015, 2nd in Show at the Boston Biennial, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, MA.

Instagram: jimmobanx