The Utopian Tense Of Green

In the narratives of nineteenth century naturalist Alexander von Humboldt of his travels through the tropics, we read about the famous Esmeralda, a place on the Orinoco river in which everyone dreamed of El Dorado, a South American utopia. Esmeralda was actually a misnomer, with its granite rock crystal misidentified as emerald, a green “mineralogical error” in Humboldt’s words.

Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Los Angeles, 2011
Soho20 Gallery, New York City, 2010