Getting Serious About Trees


 

I think that the trees project is gaining an inertia as all the different parts start off and move forward.  Trees do grow quite slowly though and unlike the seasons that seem to come around so quickly and surprise us trees seem to have a different relationship to time.  On radio four this week someone said an oak tree takes 300 years to reach maturity then 300 years to reach old age and 300 years too die.  I am not sure how true this is but it does make you think about who has stood in an oak trees shade. 

I am thinking about the art seminar lab session and wondered if it would be good to introduce some of Giuseppe Penone's work.  Its probably some of the most poetic sculpture about trees I can think of and also says a lot about growth and time.  I think the practice helps to make visible in an affective way things that we know but don't really know.  The time held in the center of a tree although quite formal in many ways there is a simplicity that seems to hold more than what we perceive to be present.


As part of the Art Povero movement there is a direct link to our ideas of the everyday and art as something that helps us to think and feel differently.  What do you think I could introduce a couple of pieces of his work and we could use them as a starting point for discussion. 



Comments

  1. Kate PahlMarch 28, 2022 at 4:14 AM

    This sounds good. They had a really interesting meeting on Friday where Peter talked about the ages of trees and eye buttons, I think it would be good to introduce the concept of everyday art. We also talked about hope and hope against hope - the energy of hope.

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