Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 15, 2002|Volume 31, Number 11

Yale artist tackles dirt and death in new projects

Joseph Scanlan, an assistant professor at the School of Art, has recently produced works that defy genre classification: a formula for turning coffee grounds into premium grade potting soil and a do-it-yourself guide for constructing the basic elements of a funeral.

A widely exhibited sculptor, Scanlan often incorporates industrial scrap and articles from everyday life into his work. One day he conceived the idea of turning that most familiar form of household waste, the dregs of home-brewed coffee, into the most familiar medium for growing plants indoors, potting soil.

Although he has no formal background in the sciences, Scanlan knew that potting soil must have a good balance of acid and alkali. This is why coffee grounds, which are acidic, are a good ingredient of compost but a poor growth medium for most plants, he explains.

To get the right pH balance, Scanlan experimented with a number of familiar and easily available compounds to add to the coffee grounds. He finally found the right ones: gypsum, sawdust and Epsom salts.

With a patent for his soil formula pending, Scanlan hopes to be able to manufacture it for sale and to enlist coffeehouse chains into the enterprise. Scanlan expects coffee retailers to be receptive to the idea of recycling the otherwise useless by-product of their trade. The sculptor envisions customers around the country purchasing one-pound grounds-to-earth kits with their lattes and cappuccinos.

For all its ecological practicality and commercial potential, the soil venture is art, Scanlan insists. Indeed, the Yale professor's soil production will be exhibited as a kind of interactive process art at several museums in Europe, starting with the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, England. Visitors to the exhibition will have a chance to participate in the process by mixing ingredients together themselves by hand.

Scanlan's other recent opus is a manual for constructing a coffin and two identical flower stands from ready-to-assemble pre-cut pieces.

The book, "DIY or How to Kill Yourself Anywhere in the World," is also a spoof of a Swedish furniture chain with warehouse outlets throughout Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Scanlan's paperback, recently put out by the Belgian art book publisher Imschoot, plays on all the familiar trademarks of the Scandinavian furniture retailer. The bright blue and yellow of the book's cover, the colors of the Swedish flag, are essential elements of the home furnishing chain's corporate identity. The iconic tool inventory and assembly instructions, which make language unnecessary, look exactly like the directions that come in all of the store's signature do-it-yourself furniture kits. The road map of a fictional city included in "DIY" -- short for "Do-It-Yourself" -- is dotted with the store's familiar logos on every block.

The actual name of the furniture warehouse is conspicuously absent from Scanlan's coffin construction manual, and the book's text is limited to lists of "Necessary tools" and their translation into Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. Scanlan guarantees that the items depicted in "DIY" can be found at any outlet of the store around the world.

A native of Ohio, Scanlan holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Solo exhibitions of his work have been mounted in New York and major cities of Europe, including Düsseldorf, Antwerp and Vienna. His work has been featured in group shows throughout North America and Europe. Scanlan's writing has appeared in many art publications and museum catalogs. His artwork has been reviewed in such prominent venues as the Los Angeles Times, the New York guide Time Out and the San Francisco Examiner.

-- By Dorie Baker

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