Lord of the Canopy: McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery

Juan Ford

16 Feb - 27 Apr 2014

The act of reconstructing a full-sized eucalyptus tree within a gallery is an expression of both hope and futility; the tree looks and feels like a tree, but it cannot and will not ever grow again. To constrain it to the limited dimensions of a gallery space is a further attempt to subjugate a natural phenomenon to the confines of an artistic practice. But life is larger than art. It will always burst forth beyond us.

Incorporating a large anamorphic wall painting and possum ring, visitors can look to see what the ring reflects, and ponder Ford’s amalgam of rational and irrational references to ecology, subjugation of nature, absurdist metaphysics, and art history.