Jordan Griska: Grumman Greenhouse

Grumman Tracker II was a 45-foot-long cold war era Naval plane with a 73’ wingspan, used to bomb submarines. Griska obtained the decommissioned plane and folded the metal of the nose and body of the plane so that it appears to be crumpling into the platform. In addition, he turned the existing sections of the plane into working greenhouses, leading to the name of the piece—Grumman Greenhouse.

“These repurposed finished pieces simultaneously lead the viewer to contemplate the history of ‘the thing’ while changing the function of the object,” says Jordan Griska, 2008 PAFA alumnus of the Penn-PAFA BFA program. “Halting the actions of this machine by grounding it in Lenfest Plaza will turn this mobile weapon into a stationary iconic object.”

The inside of the plane grows nutritive and medicinal plants, provided by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and uses the edible growth for City Harvest, which feeds low income families in the region.

“Jordan’s work engages us in social and environmental issues in extraordinary ways,” says PAFA President & CEO David R. Brigham. “I am pleased to see our alumni creating such ambitious and challenging work. Grumman Greenhouse will be a great start to the temporary sculpture program in Lenfest Plaza.”

Griska's Grumman Greenhouse inaugurates the exhibitions program in Lenfest Plaza. Complementing the permanent, site-specific work by Claes Oldenburg, the platform at the west end of the plaza will display projects by emerging and established artists.