We see what we want

alecshao:

Azuma Makoto - Frozen Pine (2011)

“The artist chose to work with bonsai trees because of their Japanese origin and history of aesthetic purposes. Bonsai trees are pruned at their branches and roots to guide the plants’ growth into visually pleasing ornaments. As a result of practices similar to this, the concept of ‘nature’ is constantly changing. Azuma’s interpretation of this man-made distortion idea involves enclosing, freezing, and stretching. The steel frame around the trees represents a sort of confinement in which nature is altered. Freezing a bonsai, leaving sharp and dense icicles to hang off its branches, or suspending it in the air, tugged at every which end by metal wiring, are obvious and more literal representations of altering the natural life of the plant. The message is how man’s actions greatly influence nature.”