BEN ALLANOFF — GASSHO 3 

The Mojave Desert is the earth undressed — geologic history is on display, felt even when not intellectually understood. Like a big sky or an ocean view, the desert makes us feel small, spatially and temporally. We see evidence of dramatic events — earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flash floods — as well as processes like erosion and the compression of sand into stone that occur over millennia. The 20-foot-tall Gassho 3, made of steel and dried plant material, expresses two of artist Ben Allanoff’s primary unconscious obsessions: the identification and expression of that which feels fundamentally human, and the harmony of masculine and feminine energies — integral to fertility in the biological, cosmic, and creative realms.

About the artist: Based in Joshua Tree, Ben Allanoff creates paintings, sculpture, photography, poetry, and music. His primary focus is on large-scale outdoor installations made from plant material, stone, sheet metal, steel wire, rust, and industrial objects. Allanoff, who grew up near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from Duke University, formerly ran an environmental nonprofit dedicated to minimizing the impacts of human activity on the sensitive Southern California ecosystem.

Artist website: benallanoff.com