Iconic/Ironic Greenery: The Cultural Cultivation of Plants in Brecht Evens' The Making Of

In " Iconic/Ironic Greenery: The Cultural Cultivation of Plants in Brecht Evens' The Making Of", the plant-strewn pages of Brecht Evens' graphic novel art parody The Making Of (2012, originally published in Dutch as De Liefhebbers (2011)) are analyzed from an intertextual point of view that pays special attention to the Pattern and Decoration movement and to the element of kitsch. As a way of investigating the use of plant-life in art, this analysis shows how plants and flowers, even (and perhaps especially) when abundantly present in an artwork can be effaced in their symbolic and biological capacity and instead come to function in a purely instrumental manner. In light of the overwhelming silence of plants as plants in the graphic novel, this text raises questions pertaining to the knowability of plants to humans.status: publishe