Maintenance of plants in the artwork by Ivan Stojakovic

* Most of the artworks that are designed for indoors contain a mix of artificial plants and the archival preserved plants (real dead plants turned into solid objects). There is no maintenance required for these artworks. There is no color change, falling apart, and/or decay in these artworks that is any different than what happens with plain oil painting on canvas.

* * Most of the artworks that are designed for outdoors are with live plants. These artworks require maintenance that is the same as maintenance of vertical plant walls – full tech support available, details upon request. These artworks are interactive with the audience as the audience is invited to participate in shaping the planted areas (can be a community garden). As opposed to capturing a single moment, these works with live plants encompass a full span of growth and change, through metamorphosis of live plants and through human interaction.

*** The freestanding sculptural tables merge Stojakovic’s artistic vision with furniture design.

 

The areas where plants grow inside the artwork are designed for growth and change. The shapes of planted areas are fixed and their role in the composition of the artwork is set. Inside these designated shapes or block/areas the planting layout is suggested, similar to the landscape design, while the client maintains the plants or pays for their maintenance. Change of plants and change of the landscaping layout is possible. Plant death is part of the natural environment and part of the art. Plants can either be replaced or left to dry. In case of excessive growth, all plant growth is to be trimmed to fit mostly inside the designated shape, and trimmed to mostly fit the initially set height of the plant growth –  as these factors influence the composition of the artwork set by the artist.

It is very simple to maintain the vertical gardens used in the artworks as only the hardiest and drought tolerant plants are used, both indoors and outdoors. Watering outdoors is site specific and defined on project to project basis. Watering indoors is bi-monthly. One month of not watering during a vacation/leave is ok.  Light must be strong and the plant growth will mostly depend on the light provided. If there is not enough natural light at the location, LED grow light bulbs, or halogen lights should be used to spot light the plants. Average replanting is a few plants once a year. Please contact the artist for a full list of the plants used and where to get them.

There are two systems used in the artwork for indoors and two slightly different ways of watering:

  1. Felt system: Watering of plants embedded in synthetic felt, takes place by squeezing the squirt water bottle and letting the water jet enter the designated opening at the top of the artwork. It is desirable to add some spraying/squirting of water at the plants and around the plants. This kind of watering takes place while installation stays on the wall, and the water remains inside the water tight gutter at the bottom of the planted area.
  2. Soil system: Watering of plants embedded in soil, involves taking the planted block/section off the artwork and positioning it horizontally. A good place to set the planted block/section is above the sink. Watering takes place by spraying/squirting tap water around the plants while the artwork is in the horizontal position, and the water drains through the holes at the back of the artwork. The planted block/section can be installed back to its place, few minutes after the watering, when all of the excess water had been drained.

Note:  Preserved moss installed outside of the planted block/area at various sections of the artwork, does not need to be watered.