Pharmacia Poetica
The Pharmacia Poetica is an on-going installation that explores the transformative power of
sound and images.
The purpose of the Pharmacia Poetica is to demonstrate how the
literal becomes the lyrical and in so
doing, cures. Like any apothecary, the Pharmacia Poetica offers
a mixture of remedies. These include
sound, poetry, metalanguage, images, and objects, the main feature of
which is a collection of glass
bottles in which the hidden beauty of commonplace objects, suspended
in liquid, is revealed.
Inspired by the writing of Paracelsus and Marsilio Ficino, the Pharmacia
first appeared in 1987 as an
exhibition in a storefront gallery in Hollywood and as a radio play
on KPFK in Los Angeles. Since then
the Pharmacia Poetica has travelled throughout the United States
and Europe, often in collaboration with other
visual artists and writers. Among the places where it has appeared are
the following:
- "pLAyLAnd," Pop-Up Art Show featuring 25 artists from Reno, San Francisco & Los Angeles. Los Angeles, California
- "The Elixir of Love" Opera for Educators, LA Opera, Los Angeles, California
- "Celebrating 21 Years of Pharmacia Poetica," L Salon, Los Angeles, California
- "Fa So La Brmm...," three-person show, El Camino College, Torrance, California
- Gerlessborgsskolan, Gerlessborg, Sweden
- L.A. Poetry Festival, Los Angeles , California.
- Dirt, Hollywood, California.
- "118W/24N", group show, Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten, Graz, Austria.
- "L.A. Slide," group show, The Living Room, Santa Monica, California.
- "Ear as Eye", group show, L.A.C.E., Los Angeles, California.
- Out Auction, Directors Guild, Los Angeles, California.
- Nonsequitur Music Gallery with Steve Roden, Alburquerque, New Mexico.
- Outside the Frame: Performance Art & the Object, Newhouse Center of Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor, Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York.
- Outside the Frame: Performance Art & the Object, 50 Year Survey of Performance Art in the US, --Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio.
- Performance/Slideshow collaboration with Allessandra Beradi, Al Centro D'Arte Masaorita, Bologna, Italy.
- Karbon, Zuerich, Switzerland.
- Colllabroation with Monique Darge, Logos Foundation, Gent, Belgium.
- "Drei", group show, Kulturzentrum Altes Rathaus, Wuerselen, Germany.
- "Influx", group show, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago.
- Het Vertel Festival, Gent, Belgium.
- Window Installation, Stephen Johnson PCA, Venice, California.
- Free Clinic Benefit Auction, Los Angeles, California.
- Gallerie Oko collaboration with Milos Vojechovsky, Amsterdam, Holland.
- Melkfabriek, Den Bosch, Holland.
- Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- "The Fifth Essence", group show, Gracie Mansion, New York, New York.
- Window Installation collaboration with John O'Brien, Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, California.
- 40 Years of California Assemblage, Wight Gallery, Univeristy of California, Los Angeles.
- New Arts Program, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
- Williams Lamb Gallery, Long Beach, California.
- Albright College Campus Center, Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania.
- Sonrisa, Los Angeles, California.
- Rebel Art Gallery, Hollywood, California.
- Radio play on KPFK's "Soundings"with composer Steve Moshier.
PRESCRIPTION