Get a whiff of this

Perfumer David Moltz has created a collection of fragrances that push the boundaries.

"You know that scene where Mary washes Jesus' feet with an alabaster pot of nard? David Moltz recently said, "It's such a spiritual moment in the history of civilization - what would that smell like?"

Nard, or nard, an essential oil less known than lavender, bergamot or jasmine, is best known from its biblical reference as the scented oil that Mary Magdalene used to anoint the feet of Jesus.

Mr. Moltz, one of the founders of the perfume brand D.S. & Durga, imagined that he would smell very valerian, like patchouli mixed with feet.

So he bottled it and named it Jesus' Feet, one of the 12 flavors featured in " Religious Vegetables", the exhibition rt-meets-scent by Mr. Moltz which opened last week. On display through July 2 at Olfactory Art Keller, a small gallery in Chinatown next to a seafood market that was once a barbershop, each unique scent, along with a corresponding piece of art created by M Moltz, is for sale.

Jesus' Feet, which costs $1,500, was the first to sell. Imperial Eaglesnake Toadstool and Cloud City Ticket are priced at $2,000 each due to various rare oud oils, which come from the resin embedded in the wood of certain tree species when fighting infection.

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"I'm a collector of all the fragrant things I could get my hands on," Mr. Moltz said of the rare and less commercial ingredients he has. collected over the years.

ImageDavid Moltz, whose art-meets-scent exhibition is at Olfactory Art Keller in Chinatown.Credit...Andreas Keller

By For example, No Shirt Temple contains mitti attar, an essential oil he bought on the side of the road in Kerala, India, after visiting an 11th-century temple, where, according to Mr. Moltz, the dress code requires men to go bare-breasted. Just a Beaver is made with vegan castoreum, or beaver testicles, which are sourced primarily from Canada. Eating Ferns I Pass the Years in Peace, named for a line in a Chinese poem by Han-Shan, contains oils extracted from spinach.

C' is less weird than it sounds.

Celia Pardo, 26, a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood and a model, said that Eating ferns I spend the years in peace was grounded.< /p>

"My happy place is the farmers market, and it smells like the best part of a farmers market, the fresh greens and earth really delicious, in a good way, like earth,” Ms. Pardo said.

Jackson Carignan, 27, a band manager, compared the smell to a fresh salad.

"I'm most attracted to more vegetal scents," he said.

For Mr. Moltz, this is an opportunity to "let his freak flag fly and experiment with fragrances not commercial enough to sell under the D.S. & Durga label, which he started with his wife, Kavi Moltz, in 2008.

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