Jason Rhoades, The Grand Machine / THEAREOLA (2002), Mixing Desk and Chair / Yellow Ribbon in Her Hair (2002), PeaRoeFoam Bulk Pallet (2002) and PeaRoeFoam Pallet with Sculpture from Vienna (2002), installation view.
It’s never advisable to miss an opportunity to view a fully realized piece by Jason Rhoades (1965-2006). Like many of his works, PeaRoeFoam (2002) is so huge, sprawling and complex that simply displaying it is a monumental task. The title refers to a product that Rhoades invented and apparently hoped to market: a mixture of green peas, salmon eggs and polystyrene foam beads that turns into an abject sort of concrete when combined with glue. This work, first shown at Zwirner’s SoHo Gallery in 2002, resembles a factory for producing and shipping the stuff. Working conditions appear at once cheery (there is a break area equipped for karaoke) and dystopian, with hardened ooze everywhere and its component parts scattered about an office in disarray.