Sean Raspet Opening Reception at Various Small Fires
𝛿 (Lathyrus sativus), 2019 – 2021 (process view) Genetically altered plant species dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Various Small Fires, Los Angeles/ Seoul.
Please join VSF in celebrating the opening of Sean Raspet's exhibition in Los Angeles on July 28th, from 10AM to 4PM. Refreshments will be served all day.
Various Small Fires is pleased to present Sean Raspet’s (b. 1981, Washington, D.C., lives and works in New York, NY) debut solo exhibition in Los Angeles. Raspet’s wide-ranging practice is both informed by and fused with his expertise in chemistry, particularly his work generating new flavors and fragrances. The artist’s work undermines the authority of sight in favor of what is impossible to glimpse with the naked eye— in this case, molecular structures. Raspet’s exhibition at VSF features three separate projects and introduces a body of work presenting several new plant varieties that have been mutated via exposure to radiation. While visually different, the three projects are united by their removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Raspet is known for his artworks that consist of liquid chemical formulations, often involving flavor and fragrance molecules, synthetic atmospheres, and other raw materials of the environment and economy. Raspet is also the co-founder of the algae-based food company Nonfood. His work in recent years has focused on the possibilities of synthetic ecology and biology—in particular, the use of artificial means to help increase biodiversity and produce more resilient plant species and ecosystems in the face of rapidly changing climate conditions.