Naked Trees, 2006
My latest series entitled Naked Trees features knotted, writhing, fruitless trees. The naked tree personifies a human struggle—its branches reaching out and twisting around itself. Naked Trees are beautiful and grotesque. My work has always been figurative, usually including human form or expression. Trees embody the human emotions I strive to capture in my figurative paintings. Tree branches resemble outstretched arms and hands. Roots grounded in the earth signify a history, or a past, that one is continuously growing away from but always connected to.
Inspired by the exquisite realism of Casper David Friedrich and modern multi-media artist Tim Burton, the dark, ominous aura of Naked Trees resonates with people’s own internal struggle. In Japanese flower-arranging, ikebana, Buddhist artists often use naked branches or even dead flowers to signify death and remind the viewer that death is a natural part of the life cycle. The dead bare trees in my paintings provide a similar reminder—that death is inescapable and suffering inevitable.
Naked Tree Paintings
