210/365: "Color is for me the purest form of expression, the purest abstract reality." ~ Jim Hodges

3 more pictures in notes above! :)

Yesterday Steve and I stopped by a garden center on the way home and I brought home some new flowering plants for my garden! The wildflowers around here are getting scarce and though there are endless cool pictures to capture, I really love bright and cheerful blossoms, so I picked out a few!

Today I'm sharing two images of a totally bizarre flower called a celosia! There are many different species, many of which look like burning feathers or flames, hence its name, Celosia, which comes from the Greek name, "kelos", which means "burned". This flower is also an important food in some countries and the leaves are supposed to taste a bit like mild spinach when cooked. Celosia also has many medicinal uses too!

The kind of Celosia I got is known as a Cockscomb because of its appearance to a chicken's comb.

Jim Hodges (born 1957) is a New York-based installation artist. Hodges was born in Spokane, Washington. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Fort Wright College in 1980 and his Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 1986. Since the late 1980s, Hodges has created a broad range of work exploring themes of fragility, temporality, love and death utilizing a highly original and poetic vocabulary. His works frequently deploy different materials and techniques, from ready-made objects to more traditional media, such as graphite, ink, gold leaf and mirrored elements. Charting both the overlooked and obvious touchstones of life with equal attention and poignancy, Hodges’ conceptual practice is as broad and expansive as the range of human experiences he captures. Hodges has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in the United States and Europe and has been included in various significant group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Hodges is currently a Senior Critic in the Sculpture Department at the Yale University School of Art. A major retrospective of Hodges’ work, organized by the Walker Art Center and the Dallas Museum of Art, is scheduled for 2013 and 2014. Wkipedia: Jim Hodges

Explored on July 30, 2013. Highest placement: page 2 (#46).