A stainless steel tree against the blue Jerusalem sky for SkyWatch Friday.Inversion (2008) came to stand in the Billy Rose Art Garden of the Israel Museum just last year.
Its creator is American artist Roxy Paine. He said this about Inversion:
It could be read as being emblematic of, and a monument to, how much we have altered the natural world. It could also be read as a meditation on humanity’s need to distill every entity into its component parts and then restructure them.
My first thought on seeing the upside down tree was that Israel is an appropriate resting place for it, considering how many Jews and Arabs know the feeling of being uprooted.
And I learn here that
Inversion was the first of Paine’s sculptures from his Dendroid series in which the dendritic form appears upside down, all of its weight resting on the smallest and finest limbs. This work was the first in the series to not require a foundation and thus proved to be a breakthrough in the artist’s development of subsequent works . . . .
These works rest directly on the ground, a discovery which opened up new avenues for the artist to explore the rules and codes defining the abundant possibilities of dendritic forms as they appear throughout nature, science and industry.
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(Oh, and not to forget what the Israel Museum adds to the sign: "Please do not climb.")
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P.S. I left the photo nice and big so you can enjoy the details.
Just click on the photo and then click again on the photo that opens up.
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P.S. I left the photo nice and big so you can enjoy the details.
Just click on the photo and then click again on the photo that opens up.
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I saw 'Conjoined' by Roxy Paine installed installed in Madison Square Park and even posted it on my travel blog. I was absolutely impressed by her works, very creative but always clinging to an archetypal tree...
ReplyDeleteOK, I am joking, and you know it!
VP, I just found this video about what you refer to
ReplyDeletehttp://bombsite.com/issues/107/articles/3278
But Roxy in the video is a man. Better he should change his name.
This is beautiful, Dina.
ReplyDeleteIf I were there I'd take lots and lots of pictures of it -- from different angles and perspectives.
Great sculpture;great post. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
ReplyDeleteFascinating, beautiful, delicate and very interesting how he created two trees with their branches intertwined. He says that he didn't want to create realism, yet it looks so real. This is a wonderful sculpture and not easy to make.
ReplyDeleteSå otroligt vackert konstverk!
ReplyDeleteWil, I saw it as one tree with its roots on top. But everyone sees differently.
ReplyDeleteMina, shalom. I think you like the work of art!
Anneli, your pictures on Mina fotostunder are beautiful.
ReplyDeletean upside down tree is also a kabbalistic symbol...we human beings draw our nourishment from the Creator...(imagining the holy blessed one above and us below...though we can experience God's glory right here on earth) anyway...it is really a metaphor. Beautiful sculpture and Jerusalem sky. Shabbat Shalom.
ReplyDeleteHaving its roots way up, this an impressive piece of art indeed.
ReplyDeletePlease have a good Friday.
I really this sculpture, Dina, and as you mention it is very appropriate in the context of Israel. However, my thoughts immediately shifted to the epiphytic and air plants, which even though have dangling roots ad may be transported easily from place to place, they survive and get all of their nourishment and moisture from the air... A good analogy for a wandering people who managed to thrive even in the greatest of adversities.
ReplyDeleteah this is awesome art and so is your photo beautiful Dina.I have seen the most beautiful art on this journal.
ReplyDeleteso this is a monument to those of us who have disinherited the earth but have purchased the heavens in a trade off.beautiful
shalom love and light
An impressive art work for our upside down world. The comments have been most interesting. Art evoking thoughts and feelings as it should.
ReplyDelete:-))
ReplyDeleteAn interesting piece of art. I do not see it as a tree, but as a human cell gathering input from all the world through its dendrites. And distils the information before sending it on through its single axon.
ReplyDeleteFriends--Kabbala, botany, art, biology--phew! you guys are bringing so much in here to think about!
ReplyDeleteRuneE, dendrites and axon! It has been half a century since I took biology. You sent me googling for a refresher course.
We have one of Roxy Paine's trees in the Olympic Sculpture Garden in Seattle. Much different from this one, you can see it here.
ReplyDeleteIt looks amazing when you enlarge it Dina, what a spectacular background also. Very symbolic oui!
ReplyDeleteKatney, thanks for sharing "your" tree. It does look more like a normal tree.
ReplyDeleteBTW, your link didn't work for me, but I found the tree here:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM29FG
I would like to try climbing that! Beautiful picture and your always very blue sky
ReplyDeleteExtremely thought-provoking.
ReplyDelete(and a treat to see such blue skies, which have been sadly lacking in Scotland lately)