In January 2015 I was invited to participate in a city-wide manifestation of botanical art and design in Bangalore, India. The gallery which invited me has a space in one of Bangalore’s leading hotels—The Taj West End. While this gallery has no particular status in the art world, it seemed like a good opportunity to show work which plays with meanings through language and material in this particular site. The gallery is a long corridor beside the main lobby leading out to a garden. The three works in this exhibition explore diverse aspects of wood as a material and symbolic presence, also in reference to the site, a luxury hotel. This is especially true of two of the three works ”Walk the Green Carpet” and ”Necklace for a Tree”. It was also a way of participating in an awareness of botanical art as being linked to organic processes and materials in ways other than for classification or decorative purposes. We are the audience to celebrities as they promenade on the red carpet as product and self-promotion. The red carpet originated in 458 BC where mention is made of not walking on the earth but on a crimson path in the play Agamemnon. This reemerged as a practice in the 1800’s with presidents and other VIP’s should not soil their footwear or as a signifier of importance. Today, this meaning has been co-opted toward promotional purposes and it is used to draw attention to celebrities who are representing products for the edification of the press who then produce photos of this product creating their own product. ”Walk the Green Carpet” is thus a paraphrase to the spectacle of the red carpet; reminding us that we can reinvent meanings and rituals. A carpet of woodchips, as though in a forest— the green carpet seems to suggest environmental concerns--but they are painted green, so actually not ecological although green often is a euphenism for ecological or natural. The texture of the woodchips themselves underfoot and sound is also an experience which has been imported into the hotel. The backdrop, usually listing the event sponsors, instead is a vinyl print (160 x 120) of the wood chips in the background with an overlay of different shades of green color swatches and names of green colors. It reminds us that there are many shades of green from jungle to sublime to bottle olive. At the vernissage people could pause and be photographed on the green carpet in front of the green colors, to fully experience the ritual which is infused with a combination of commercialism and vanity. The other works in this exhibition were framed ”knot calendar” continuing to work with wood as a material. A knot forms in the wood as a refusal to simply continue in the same direction. A ”not” forms in the mind to suggest an alternative is needed. How often do we formulate ”knots” in our lives? ”Knot Calendar” gives a daily image for contemplation of new directions: 12 months of ”I would, I would not”. The viewers must consider what they know of words and objects and reconsider them in new Saussurian ways. Objects from everyday existence take on new values and meanings. The tree necklace looks at ideas of nature and culture by making an absurd proposal: a necklace for a tree inscribed ”Best tree in the forest”. Made from scraps of veneer panel glued onto composite board, it mimics a gold necklace which is a gold plated metal necklace. The original model for this necklace actually used cabinet doors from the sale room of IKEA for the ”jewels”. These pieces are all in diverse shapes of price tags. They are linked together by carved fragments of solid wood: the work is about economy and value as well as decoration. The necklace resonates as both a status symbol and object for ritual such as worry beads and is placed hanging on a tree in the garden of the luxury hotel. The final jewel of the necklace rests on the ground and it has a laser cut text in the veneer ”best tree in the forest” the forest and beyond.