Tree

PETER GREY

ARTIST STATEMENT

Tree is my third sculpture and is a fairly serious departure from my previous works. It is made entirely from welded steel and is finished with a darkening patina and a clear coat. For this piece, instead of gathering materials and assembling them to resemble an organic form, as I have done in the past, my goal was to start with more basic materials, two sizes of straight rod, and then manipulate them to create a fluid representation of a tree. I took a lot of inspiration from the impressionist painters of the 19th century and sought to simplify the form of a tree down to its most basic and repetitive lines. I chose to model my sculpture on an olive tree near my house, as the olive tree is not only beautiful but also has very strong, distinct lines.