Claire Pentecost - Earthly Observatory

Artists

Claire Pentecost

clairepentecost.org

Earth Oculi, 2015–2018
Soil chromatography on filter paper

Developed by scientists in the mid-twentieth century, soil chromatography is a method for quickly and qualitatively assessing the composition and relative health of soil. These sunburst-like images emerge as a slurry of soil is poured through the filter paper and its many organic and mineral components seep towards the edges at different speeds, leaving the striated, ring-like patterns. Produced from soil collected from watersheds in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, the chromatographs loosely map where the soils were sampled, forming a kind of geographic constellation. The variation in hues and patterns make visible the distinct geology, biology, and cultural histories of each site, both abstractly and indexically.

Courtesy of the artist.

Claire Pentecost -

Claire Pentecost -

Claire Pentecost -

Claire Pentecost is an artist and writer who researches the living matters of the unified multi-dimensional being that animates the critical zone of our planet. Her soil-erg project of 2012 considered the material of soil as a commodity, proposing a soil-based currency system. Pentecost’s work is driven by research and inspired by questions of form. She advocates for the role of the amateur in the production and interpretation of knowledge, while a longstanding interest in nature and artificiality predicates her recent responses to anthropogenic climate change. Pentecost has exhibited work nationally and internationally at dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany; 13th Istanbul Biennial; White Chapel, London; 3rd Mongolian Land Art Biennial; MCA Chicago; MSU Broad Museum; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Higher Pictures, New York; Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC; Milwaukee Art Museum; Transmediale 05, Berlin; and American Fine Arts, New York; and many others.