Culture of Trees

While visiting Japan, I perceived a keen reverence for the beauty of living trees. I thought of their role transporting life-giving air and moisture, and of their literal connection of earth and heaven. The traditional Japanese esteem for nature and artful living was evident on the surface, but crowded cities also contained hidden layers. Outside a castle’s mute 17th-century stone walls, I passed the deafening blast of pachinko parlors and bustling transit stations. From an elevated train, I viewed distant mountains through a forest of power poles. They seemed to be the trees’ manufactured equivalents. The arboreal forms made me wonder if contemporary and ancient are so different.

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The series consists of 11 triptychs. Edition of 20. Sizes: 24 x 45 inches for triptychs with vertical images; 16 x 60 inches wide for triptychs with horizontal images.
Custom sizes, within the edition, made by request on 100% rag paper. 2006