TEXTS
NATURAL HISTORY (Unpublished text) Unpublished 2001
Natural
History is one of a series of sculptures made by myself that in
some way use the form of a book as a central motif. Sometimes the book
is used singly and sometimes, as in this instance, as a form of building
block. For me the book symbolises many things, but most importantly
the accumulated knowledge of the world i.e. History
In the
sculpture Natural History a tree is made as though from some
found branches [maybe the last surviving branches or found fossilised
branches] that have sparked a memory in the maker of the form of a tree,
a plant possibly long lost to that civilisation. And the makers only
available materials to complete the tree are books, which are stacked
up to make the trunk of the tree, thus ironically returning the books
to an image of their original base material - wood. The branches, crudely
bound to the trunk by rope, complete the stark attempt to recreate a
tree. This optimistic but perhaps bleak gesture of trying to improve
ones environment is softened and made playful by the almost invisible
dripping of water from the tips of the branches onto passers-by below.
The dripping
water is maybe reminiscent of tears and of passing time but also a reminder
of a positive life force that has a will to reinvent and continue.
Text © Bill Woodrow, London, 2001
|