I recently visited a sunflower farm, which made me think of the German artist Wolfgang Laib. I loved rewatching this wonderful Art 21 episode on him from 2014.
Laib has been collecting pollen of various sorts, such as dandelion and hazelnut, since 1977.
In 2013 the Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition of Laib’s work, including the extraordinary “Pollen from Hazelnut.” A room-size installation, the artist’s largest to date, “Pollen from Hazelnut” was a collection of 15-18 seasons of hazelnut pollen. Laib works primarily with natural elements like marble, milk, rice, pollen and beeswax.
The past 10 days I’ve been collecting pollen from a single, dinner plate-sized, sunflower, and this is what I have accumulated:
If you want to watch more about Laib, watch this too.