back next Of Knowledge of Trees of Death © 1982 Tom Ferguson
I did the sculpture in the early 80s and used the title for my
first one-artist exhibit. I had been bolting frames around paintings
for awhile, playing
with/emphasizing that object-ness. Bolting and enclosing something that
normally needs to be accessible sort of entombs it.... the shape, when
lain flat, is coffin-like to top off that notion. That the
encylopedias fit so nicely was a serendipitous event... I built the
"shelving" but that the number allowed 3 sections, A - Z, with no
padding
needed... is what I mean. Most of the materials derive from trees
(books, wood) and they are temporarily held captive by the bolts &
screws, diverted from the normal flow of birth, growth, degeneration,
death.
