Public Artwork
Arboreus, after Rodchenko
Location:
Lynn Valley Library and Plaza, 1277 Lynn Valley Road , North Vancouver, BC, Canada
See map: Google Maps
Artwork creator(s):
Metz, Jacqueline; Chew, Nancy
Text author(s):
Luis Borges, Jorge
Installation year:
2008 Description:
A 43’ high glass and glulam installation marks a public plaza and is visible from the library and all approaches. The glass has an abstracted, lifesize image of a cedar tree. Framed by this sculpture, and set on the concrete wall behind, is a text installation which interprets the meaning of the imagery - the two are read together.
Text of the artwork:
The original is unfaithful to the translation.
Jorge Luis Borges
Text theme:
Expression of the idea that culture and language evolve, always in reference to an earlier version, always becoming something else.
Artwork theme:
Arboreus is informed by the imagery of a giant cedar - a reference to the tree of knowledge, the historic logging industry of Lynn Valley, and the local forested landscape.
Dimensions:
Height:
13.1m Note(s):
Although the image appears to be a magnificent old grown cedar, lifesize, it is an abstraction, transformed in various ways (including scale, digital manipulation, media, transparency, sitting within an urban context) of an iconic historical photo: Pine Tree, Alexander Rodchenko, 1925.
A further use of text is the latin phrase layered over the image: the scientific name for the Western Red Cedar, Cupressaceae Thuja plicata - a mislabelling.
Artist's biography:
Metz & Chew
Author's biography:
Jorge Luis Borges Document(s):
Syndicate
