In an interesting combination of his two primary ways of working, Roxy Paine uses both mechanical means and the innate logic of natural forms to create his "Dendroid" tree-like sculptures. Paine's meticulous research and observation of a variety of tree species help him to understand the "language" of how a tree grows, and from there he creates fictional tree species that grow to a logic of their own. Paine has said: "I've processed the idea of a tree and created a system for its form. I take this organic majestic being and break it down into components and rules. The branches are translated into pipe and rod.". Employing the language that he has invented pertaining to each of these fictive species, Paine's trees are "grown" through a laborious process of welding together the cylindrical piping and rods of diminishing size.
The first of these dendroids was Imposter, 1999, now at the Wanas Foundation, in Knislinge, Sweden. Roxy has gone on to create fifteen trees, includingBluff, 2002, which premiered in New York's Central Park during the Whitney Biennial in 2002, and the very ambitiousConjoined, 2007, recently on display in Manhattan's Madison Square Park (through December 31, 2007). Conjoined is a 40 ft tall by 45 ft wide sculpture of two trees whose branches cantilever in space and connect in mid air. Paine creates two different fictional tree species where each branch from one tree joins with a branch from the other. For the observer, it is unclear where one tree begins and the other ends.
Paine's recent sculpture,Inversion, 2008, was installed in the Public Art Projects section of Art Basel 39, in Basel, Switzerland in June 2008. It was also part of FREEDOM: Den Haag Sculptuur 2008 in The Hague, Netherlands through August 2008.
His latest and most ambitious project to date,Maelstrom, 2009, could be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from April 28 - November 29, 2009. (Wikipedia)
Below some pictures of the Maelstrom exhibition at the Met.
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