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NOBA Nordic Baltic contemporary art platform

Garden Supplies | Scene 1. - The Great Cabbage, 2017

207 x 140 cm
€1709

Seed packages, acrylic on chipboard


The graduation work „Garden Supplies” (“Dārza apgāds”) is a depiction of the correlation of the intended, the objective reality and the creation of myth. It is the contemporary post-truth and alternative fact era`s story of how it is possible to avoid the responsibility over the reality with creation of a system of superstition and myth. The narrative is constructed of metaphorical characters and is readable by translating the symbolic meanings of the characters and their playful mutual combinations and rhythms. The main source of inspiration is a subjective structure of a certain agrochemist’s world view, which is so self-sufficient that there is no space left for an objective explanation of causality. The agrochemist is a real living person. “Garden Supplies” was a real family business in the mid 90ties ran by agrochemist.


THE STORY


Once upon a not-very-long time ago, an agrochemist with a brilliant, eager mind and an otherwise great potential had an idea to become his country’s greatest seed merchant. He dreamed of great cabbage*, beautiful gardens and happy, rich people in the gardens.


The agrochemist began to fulfill his dream with tremendous enthusiasm. A company with limited liability and a poetic name Garden Supplies (DĀRZA APGĀDS) ** was founded.


To himself and to the world, the agrochemist promised eternal love, prosperity and at least one white Mercedes-Benz limousine to anyone who he happened to meet on his way. His eloquence and persuasiveness was unmatched. The world believed in him, looked at him with eyes full of delight, listened to him with open mouths; the cabbage rolled to the right and to the left, and the land flourished. A neighboring gypsy, out of respect to the agrochemist, sold him his last horse for just a few coins. Although some say that the horse would have been under a spell of black magic.


Who knows what happened to the gypsy’s horse, but black cats started crossing the agrochemist`s path. At first, he knocked three times on a tree, spat over the left shoulder, held the button of his trousers*** and marched forward, head held high. But quite soon he had to take up the heavy weaponry. He hit the black ghosts at first with headed cabbages, then with Savoy cabbages and at last even with Brussels sprouts.


No luck. The black cats, little buggers, haven’t retreated to this day. But the agrochemist doesn’t give up, either. He keeps throwing those cabbages at his ghosts over and over again, so that the earth trembles. Apparently, the key is to get rid of the she-cats. But if the situation gets out of control, Dalmatian chrysanthemum and marsh tea extracts, and a good deal of turpentine might help.


* Cabbage is a metaphor for money in various languages. In the work a symbol for ideas that theoretically should bring about happiness and prosperity.
** The agrochemist is a real living person. Garden Supplies was a real family business in the mid 90ties ran by agrochemist.
*** Superstitious actions that should be undertaken when encountering black cats to avoid ill luck. In the work black cat is a symbol of malignant forces that are at fault for failures.


Other works from the series:


madara1


Madara Auzenbaha. Garden Supplies | Scene 2. – The Malignant Force. 2017. 207×140 cm. Seed packages, pigmented varnish on chipboard


madara2


Garden Supplies | Scene 3. – The Cabbage Safeguards the Kittens. 2017. 207×140 cm. Seed packages, acrylic on chipboard


madara3


Garden Supplies | Scene 4. – The Act of Exorcism. 2017. 207×140 cm. Seed packages on chipboard, video installation


madara4


Garden Supplies | Scene 5. – The Leaf. 2017. 207×140 cm. Seed packages, silicone on chipboard


madara5


Garden Supplies | Scene 6. – The Brussels Sprout. 2017. 207×140 cm. Seed packages, pigmented varnish on chipboard


madara6


Garden Supplies | Scene 7. – Back in The Depth of The Earth. 2017. 207×140 cm. Seed packages, soil, glue on chipboard


madara7


Garden Supplies | Scene 8. – The Seeds. 2017. 207×140 cm. Seed packages, pigmented varnish, acrylic on chipboard


More art by this artist

Painting

Garden Supplies | Scene 2. - The Malignant Force by Madara Auzenbaha
Garden Supplies | Scene 2. - The Malignant Force  
207 x 140 cm
€1709
Garden Supplies | Scene 3. - The Cabbage Safeguards the Kittens by Madara Auzenbaha
Garden Supplies | Scene 3. - The Cabbage Safeguards the Kittens  
207 x 140 cm
€1709
Garden Supplies | Scene 6. - The Brussels Sprout by Madara Auzenbaha
Garden Supplies | Scene 6. - The Brussels Sprout  
207 x 140 cm
€1709
Garden Supplies | Scene 8. - The Seeds by Madara Auzenbaha
Garden Supplies | Scene 8. - The Seeds  
207 x 140 cm
€1709

Other

Garden Supplies | Scene 5. - The Leaf by Madara Auzenbaha
Garden Supplies | Scene 5. - The Leaf  
207 x 140 cm
€1709
Garden Supplies | Scene 7. - Back in The Depth of The Earth by Madara Auzenbaha
Garden Supplies | Scene 7. - Back in The Depth of The Earth  
207 x 140 cm
€1709

Installation

Garden Supplies | Scene 4. - The Act of Exorcism by Madara Auzenbaha
Garden Supplies | Scene 4. - The Act of Exorcism  
207 x 140 cm
€1709