HOW ARE TREES USED IN 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY ART Chae Won Song (WIM) Trees have been included in art as far as human history goes back, whether it is a simple practice sketch or a deeply symbolic aspect of a piece. In modern times, new techniques and tools allow new ways for artists to explore strange ideas and ways of thinking. Enabling them to use trees in a new light. Roots, trunks, branches, or the entire tree can be simplified into shapes or kept detailed depending on what atmosphere the artist aspires to incorporate in their work, using the shapes of trees as a base for experimentation. Martin Boyce’s “Our Love is Like the Flowers…” imitates a park with trees in a minimalistic style made of glowing fluorescent tubes, creating an other-worldly feeling to them but also including a sense of loneliness or isolation due to the lack of leaves or additional branches.
Majesty (2006) – Tacita Dean There are many artists that use wood for sculptures as it is easier to use compared to metal and stone due to it being a softer medium. However, there are many instances where the tree itself is transformed through painting, carvings, or many other methods. Phillipa Lawrence’s “Bound V-57” has an ancient tree wrapped with bright felt, without chopping it down, to establish a connection between herself and the countryside.
Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours (2002) – Martin Boyce Contrasting to that, Tacita Dean’s “Majesty” is of a high-resolution photo of one of the oldest and largest oak trees in England that includes all the small details of the branches, trunk grooves and roots. This makes the tree seem grandiose and overwhelming in a sense, the absence of leaves giving it a haunting and dead look. Boyce and Dean focus on and use different features of a tree, Boyce condensing down the shapes of a park tree while Dean attempts to capture all the details of an ancient one, producing distinct pieces of work.
Bound V-57 – Phillipa Lawrence On the other hand, “The Hidden Life Within” by Giuseppe Penone is a tree trunk that has been hollowed out to showcase the original sapling underneath by using the tree’s rings, exposing a vulnerable side to the large tree trunk. Penone’s process carves into the trunk while Lawrence preserves the tree and its shape by wrapping it, showing the familiar and unusual ways trees can be used. 16
