Greta Bank

Greta Bank (United States, born 1969), Narcissus Papyraceus, 2020, Carved foam, mirror mosaic, metal targets, Narcissus bulbs, rocks, and water, dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist 

Greta Bank’s sculpture, performances, and installations often use both topical and historical content to provoke social inquiry.

Bank describes her work as visual essays, positioning her audience to reflect on diverse matters such as environmental corruption, mass consumption, and social constructs. 

Narcissus Papyraceus, on view here, connects the past with the present, and visualizes the future. This sculptural installation consists of a six-foot-tall disco-ball that is fashioned in the shape of a drop and created from carved foam with over 7,000 hand-placed mirror mosaic tiles as well as a pile of collected metal objects used for target practice from rifles and handguns, and living bulbs of paperwhite narcissus, which are commonly forced to flower indoors during the harsh winter climate of New England. Narcissus, a figure from Greek mythology, was so impossibly handsome that he fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Narcissus’ name lives on as the flower into which he was transformed and as a synonym for those obsessed with their own appearance. Bank poetically experiments with a narcissus flower in this work, testing its ability to bloom among found decay and challenging its inherent vanity that leads to self-destruction. As this project evolves, it acknowledges that our future is a destiny etched in stone due to capitalism.

The artist asks viewers to consider these questions:  

What reflection do you see in this work over time?  

How do individuals, institutions, and systems expect to survive and at what cost?

On April 12, 2021 all plant material was removed from the installation Narcissus Papyraceus. This decision was made because the organic decay of the artwork compromised PMA standards for collection care. Best practices for museum collection care are established by national organizations, including the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists.

While it is typical practice for art museums to withhold the audited dollar value of their collections from the public, the PMA has over 18,000 artworks in its permanent collection to date. One of my intentions for creating this site-specific installation for Untitled, 2020 was to engage the museum in a compromise by having living organic material in its care. This museum is an ecosystem with careful protocols and control systems for the sustained preservation of its collection for the public trust.

Capitalism is a system that has relied on white supremacy for control of power for centuries. Capitalism relies on extraction and violence to perpetuate itself, and as a result all life is surviving within a capitalist ecology. The Narcissus Paperwhites in this installation not only symbolize Greek mythology but they are also a collaboration with the PMA as an institution to reflect on the nature of the museum’s relationship with capitalism historically, presently, and moving into the future.   

—Greta Bank   April 14, 2021 

Greta Bank (United States, born 1969), Narcissus Papyraceus (detail), 2020, Carved foam, mirror mosaic, metal targets, Narcissus bulbs, rocks, and water, Courtesy of the artist 

The paperwhite narcissus plants on March 4, 2021.

The paperwhite narcissus plants on March 4, 2021.

Narcissus Papyraceus on April 8, 2021

Narcissus Papyraceus on April 8, 2021

Watch the March 18, 2021 “Conversations with Maine Artists in a ______ Time” with artists Greta Bank, Celeste Henriquez, Gregory Jamie, veronica a perez, and Giles Timms

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“In a year that raised many questions about our collective past and future, Greta Bank’s installation speaks on the most macro-of macro topics: our understanding of time, the waste and destruction of capitalism, the morality of human pleasure, etc. Nevertheless, this critical reflection on our society still reaches for a strand of optimism; hoping that the hardy flower bulbs, hidden in the sculpture’s shadows, will come to bloom during the span of this exhibition.”

- Cody Castle-Stack, Untitled juror 

Explore More Artworks From Untitled, 2020

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Rachel Church
Rachel Church

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Evelyn Wong
Evelyn Wong

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Charles Schreiber
Charles Schreiber

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veronica a perez
veronica a perez

Sculptor veronica a perez utilizes artificial hair and flowers as well as other kitschy materials that serve as personal and universal commentaries on contemporary Latinx issues. She explores the hybridization of ancestry, identity and culture as well as the fragile nature of beauty ideals in thought-provoking sculptures.

Titi de Baccarat
Titi de Baccarat

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Joshua Reiman
Joshua Reiman

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Eleanor Kipping
Eleanor Kipping

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Celeste Henriquez 
Celeste Henriquez 

In 2020, Celeste Henriquez reflected on her role as a parent and caregiver in her abstract paintings. Her daughter, Abigail, is a young adult with a profound intellectual disability and requires the artist’s care. These two paintings are from a body of work titled Guardians, which began in 2020 pre-pandemic when her daily life combined managing her care from a distance and painting in her studio; then Abigail came down with the coronavirus in early March and strangers cared for her at a health facility.

Steve Bartlett
Steve Bartlett

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Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams

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Greta Bank
Greta Bank

Greta Bank’s sculpture, performances, and installations often use both topical and historical content to provoke social inquiry. Bank describes her work as visual essays, positioning her audience to reflect on diverse matters such as environmental corruption, mass consumption, and social constructs.

Henry Austin
Henry Austin

The abstract paintings of Henry Austin aim to lay bare what it means to him to be alive. He likens the intuitive act of painting to dance, recalling the performative nature of 20th-century action painters.

Anna Dibble
Anna Dibble

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Deborah Wing-Sproul 
Deborah Wing-Sproul 

Performance artist and sculptor Deborah Wing-Sproul reflects on social, cultural, economic, and political inequities amplified by the events of 2020 in her new work, Meet me at the pool. This performance and sculpture are informed by community lockdowns and isolation as well as the tension between presence and absence. The swimming pool—a place of social exclusivity and a sign of wealth and leisure—is the starting point of investigation.

Christopher Dudley
Christopher Dudley

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Rosamond Gross
Rosamond Gross

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Gregory Jamie
Gregory Jamie

We find mythic beings, whose bodily forms are androgynous or otherwise unspecified, caught in nightmarish landscapes—some wear masks and tease animals, others float in rivers or baths, perhaps conversing with spirits.

Enrique Mendía
Enrique Mendía

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Meghan Mitchell
Meghan Mitchell

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Elijah Ober
Elijah Ober

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Ashley Page
Ashley Page

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Julie Poitras Santos
Julie Poitras Santos

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Sally Stanton
Sally Stanton

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Giles Timms
Giles Timms

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ARRT! (Artists’ Rapid Response Team!)
ARRT! (Artists’ Rapid Response Team!)

Artists’ Rapid Response Team! (also known as ARRT!) is a collective of year-round members of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA). UMVA is dedicated to upholding the dignity of artists, while creating positive social change through the arts.

Graeme Kennedyuntitled artists