Curatorial Projects > By-product Becomes Product (2013)

Imin Yeh
Double Happiness (detail), 2012
Custom sawdust/paper fiber composite boards, ink, paper

“Double Happiness is inspired by the ubiquitous wooden produce carts that add color to San Francisco’s neighborhoods while showcasing ingenuous mom and pop carpentry and the abundance of California agriculture. This printed sculpture makes transparent all stages of the printing process: the carved wood, the impression on paper, and multiples in direct inspiration to this new sawdust/paper fiber composite board that considers both the material as well as the health of the people who work with the boards. The simple natural materials involved in woodblock printing and its 1,000+ year history are what continue to draw me to the medium, but contemporary woodblock artists are being drawn to use plywood, MDF boards, linoleum, solar plates, and other ‘un-natural’ substrates.  
 
Concepts of sustainability, zero-waste, and toxin-free materials are embodied in this project where by-product and product are both utilized to sell a zero-energy, hand-made, and American-made fine art product. Delicious hand printed, hand-built, local, organic, fresh, fine art, limited edition paper fruits will be available for purchase from this vending sculpture. Through the laborious process of printing and folding this produce, this project also engages in a critical dialogue with anxieties about non-organic, non-local produce and also the role of the migrant workers who provide a majority of farming workforce in California.” – Imin Yeh

By-product Becomes Product

February 6 – March 30, 2013
Intersection for the Arts
San Francisco, CA

Photo credit: Scott Chernis