Oasis, 1995
Synthetic Carpet, Gravel, Pavers & Photo Plaques
11 x 11 feet
Oasis was an site installation that utilized the garden plan from the Lindaraja Garden, one of the Alhambra’s courtyard gardens in Granada, Spain. Oasis was made by cutting this garden plan out of a new, American-made, synthetic carpet with a Persian motif that also alluded to early Persian carpet designs patterned on the fourfold paradise garden ground plan. Placed outdoors in a contemporary walled site, that served as the entrance to a Los Angeles contemporary art gallery, the installation called attention to past and present relationships between nature and culture, architecture and landscape, art and decoration.
Tracing the path of the viewer through the courtyard are five pavers mounted with plaques etched with text and images. These range from a 1829 quote on the Alhambra by the American author Washington Irving, to the ground plan of the Lindaraja garden from the 1500s, to the carpet label which proudly displays the American flag. These plaques are again used as additional markers that allow the viewer to consider references and make connections through cultures and time presenting fresh insights into how our surroundings are shaped.
