2002 - 2003

Learn How to Fly Over a Very Large Larry began as a crop sign I made with the help of Kathryn Chan in a hay field, in East Madison, Maine. Using string and a piece of plywood to compress the field’s plants, I created an impression of the talk-show host Larry King that measured 300 by 250 feet. I then took flying lessons over the site, since that was the only way to view the work in its entirety.

A press release describing the crop sign was issued to the media to coincide with the release of the movie Signs in which Mel Gibson plays a farmer whose corn field is struck with mysterious crop circles. Every major television network, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC covered the story of the Maine crop sign portrait.

CNN’s Larry King, who hosted the first worldwide phone-in talk show - Larry King Live - is known around the world. In an interview with actor Mathew Perry on August 22, 2002, Larry King called the crop sign: ‘The largest tribute I have ever received.’ He also removed his trademark suspenders during the interview in order to make a gift of them to Perry. In the crop sign, his suspenders are 40 feet wide.

In the installation at Andrew Kreps Gallery, a large 15ft-long sofa serves as an observation deck for the media parts of the project. But something is up with this living room. Depending on which part of the couch you sit on, it renders your body too big, too small, or just right, since it was built in perspective, as if moving towards a vanishing point. The carpet and TV stand are similarly in perspective.

With the help of Steve Liakos, the owner of the field, and Grace Jaqua, a local 911 emergency phone operator and self-taught naturalist, I made a botanical survey of the site, and was able to identify seven different plant species living inside the Larry King sign: Timothy Grass, Red Clover, Pearly Everlasting, Queen Ann’s Lace, Bull Thistle, Milkweed and Vetch.

Materials & Actions: Crop sign in the likeness of the CNN talk-show host Larry King, flight lessons over the site, media coverage, botanical survey.

Installation at Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, New York: Sofa built in perspective, coffee table, pink carpet, TV stand with five monitors, five DVDs show the making of the crop sign and assorted media coverage, eight botanical specimens in 36 x 24in frames. Paintings: Field, 124 x 246in, house paint on canvas, Take Suspenders Off, 34 x 48in, egg tempera and oil on linen, Grace, 26 x 32in, egg tempera and oil on linen.