What is the cost of our quest for perfect lawns? Somerville artist Judith Klausner’s exhibition “There Goes The Neighborhood” is an examination and sendup of our society’s infatuation with lawn care, with the suppression of nature, with control—via classic tiny toy green army men patrolling Klausner’s model lawns and fighting invaders, with herbicide, hedge trimmers and ride-on lawnmowers. With titles like “Not In My Backyard” and “Keeping Up With The Joneses” and “Are You Feeling Lucky?” (The little army men accrue uncomfortable added resonances as Trump ICE paramilitaries have actually been murderously invading our communities.)
See the exhibition at A.P.E. Ltd. in Northampton from July 7 to Aug. 2, 2026. (Ariel Kotker’s “His Room as He Left It” is on view there as well.)
Klausner previously created meticulous sculptures staring insects as protagonists, flowers sculpted from nail clippings and baby teeth, and cameo profiles carved into the creamy filling of Oreo cookies. In 2013, she co-created the Mµseum (or Micro-Museum), a tiny gallery wedged into a narrow alleyway between two restaurants in Somerville’s Union Square.
“Her experience of invisible disability and chronic pain play an integral role in how she views the world and creates art,” according to her website. Klausner’s 2013 and 2014 series “Coming Out of the Medicine Cabinet” addressed embarrassment around and hiding of illnesses by bedazzling her migraine medication box, anti-anxiety pill bottle, antidepressant bottle, and asthma inhalers with Swarovsky crystal rhinestones.
Around 2021, she began her “(de)composed” clay sculptures of moldy bread, melting popsicles, a barnacle-encrusted boat propeller, and wilting flowers. “As a disabled queer woman, I am drawn to things that are cast off or othered, to beauty that is ignored or needs to be unearthed. I want to invite people to push past their discomfort and look closer,” Klausner writes on her website. “Often when something has ‘gone bad,’ it has given rise to something new, but it can be hard to appreciate new growth in the shadow of our disappointment.”
In that series, Klausner showcased her connection with nature and honed her techniques for creating realistic sculptures out of things they are not. She both of these in “There Goes The Neighborhood” with her intricate sculptures of fallen oak leaves and dandelions and mushrooms fashioned from clay and paint and wire.
Klausner writes in her exhibition artist statement:
“‘You must understand: we are at war’ – TV commercial for Kobalt 40-volt outdoor power tools
‘Our enemy will feel the bite of our iron. Kill them!’ – TV commercial for Scotts EcoSense Weed-Be-Gone
“A grass lawn is useless. The roots of lawn grasses are too shallow to prevent soil erosion, and the plants themselves provide nothing to pollinators. They require tremendous amounts of water to keep alive. Perhaps most perversely, they are useless by design: the origins of the grass lawn can be traced to displays of wealth by the British aristocracy, where they communicated ‘look at me! I’m so rich I can literally waste land.’
“This uselessness must be preserved at all costs. If a dandelion (early food for pollinators, edible to humans, deep taproot that helps remediate soil) infiltrates, you have failed to maintain order in your kingdom. It must be destroyed with maximum prejudice, lest neighboring fiefdoms perceive weakness (or you receive a passive-aggressive letter from the HOA). Keep all growth in check. There is no room for divergent assessments of value. If you need a reminder of your mission objectives, study your neighbor’s lawn. Yours should look identical, yet somehow slightly greener. Remember the words of General Kobalt, ‘We are at war!’”
Previously:
2013: “Coming To Somerville: The Smallest Museum In The World”
2013: “Photos: Debut Of The Smallest Museum In The World In Somerville”
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