Perfect World

All good thoughts and all good works of art run on their own as a perpetual motion machine, mentally and sometimes physically; they are very alive,” says Jason Rhoades. Bearing witness to the animating possibilities of art, Jason Rhoades’ recent installation, Perfect World, is a monumental piece of work in all senses of the term. Here five miles of new aluminum bars have been transformed into a shiny, cathedral-like jungle. The installation’s upper level features a hodgepodge of monster puppets and various bric-a-brac, along with a reproduction of the Garden of Eden–a photographic collage of the vegetable garden kept by Rhoades’ father. This lavishly illustrated book is a playfully beautiful document of the installation, featuring an aluminum-coated dust jacket and a fold-out photograph of Rhoades’ “garden.