The Heart of the Tree
Brooklyn Botanic Garden (6/17-10/24, 2023)
PHOTO CREDIT: SOPHIA ELIZABETH
"The Heart of the Tree"
Year: 2023
Size: H80" W56" D56"
Medium: steel, stainless steel, brass, bronze, glass, silicone
"I grew up interpreting trees as spirits or humans like myself. The personification or deification of nature is fundamental in Japanese mythology and Shintoism. The Heart of the Tree offers the presence of a pumping or broken heart or rooted tree or female figure, with colored glass fruits and IV drips feeding a new sprout within itself. It is fruiting and empowering while trying to recuperate from damage and alarming us. I took the title from the poem by Henry Bunner, which expresses what it means to plant a tree for a community.”
The Heart of the Tree (1893) Henry Cuyler Bunner - 1855-1896
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants a friend of sun and sky;
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh;
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard--
The treble of heaven's harmony--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty
And far-cast thought of civic good--
His blessings on the neighborhood,
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land--
A nation's growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
Year: 2023
Size: H80" W56" D56"
Medium: steel, stainless steel, brass, bronze, glass, silicone
"I grew up interpreting trees as spirits or humans like myself. The personification or deification of nature is fundamental in Japanese mythology and Shintoism. The Heart of the Tree offers the presence of a pumping or broken heart or rooted tree or female figure, with colored glass fruits and IV drips feeding a new sprout within itself. It is fruiting and empowering while trying to recuperate from damage and alarming us. I took the title from the poem by Henry Bunner, which expresses what it means to plant a tree for a community.”
The Heart of the Tree (1893) Henry Cuyler Bunner - 1855-1896
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants a friend of sun and sky;
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh;
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard--
The treble of heaven's harmony--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty
And far-cast thought of civic good--
His blessings on the neighborhood,
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land--
A nation's growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
What Is Your Name?
ArtPort Residency Program at LaGuardia Airport, New York
What is Your Name?
Natsuki Takauji / Haksul Lee
2020
Size: H 6’ W 3’ D 3’
Material: Paper, steel, aluminum
Takauji and Lee’s collaboration project, "What Is Your Name?" was created at Marine Air Terminal, Laguardia Airport, through the ArtPort Residency Program by the Queens Council on the Arts and the Port Authority of NY and NJ through January to March, 2020. The project was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, however, they transported it and completed it in their studio in the summer of 2020. It was selected for a virtual exhibition “Mother Tongue” by The Immigrant Artist Biennial.
What Is Your Name? is composed of a sound installation and blue and white airplane-like sculptures that face each other as though one is a reflection of the other. For this work, Lee and Takauji interviewed people in public spaces throughout New York City such as LaGuardia Airport and Flushing Queens Public Library to collect their names in their mother languages, handwriting, and voices. The various colors and alphabets on the white side of the work’s sculpture illustrate the diversity of people. The artists have transcribed these names into the International Phonetic Alphabet on the blue side to symbolize unity, signifying our collective effort to understand other languages: IPA is used to determine the pronunciation of any spoken language: Therefore, for anyone who studies a foreign language, IPA plays a critical role. IPA is a symbol of the universal use of language, and the only common ground of all the languages.
The unique handwriting and recorded voices symbolize the value of individual and cultural differences. Through this socially engaged art project, Lee and Takauji addressed people's origins and coexisting differences.
Natsuki Takauji / Haksul Lee
2020
Size: H 6’ W 3’ D 3’
Material: Paper, steel, aluminum
Takauji and Lee’s collaboration project, "What Is Your Name?" was created at Marine Air Terminal, Laguardia Airport, through the ArtPort Residency Program by the Queens Council on the Arts and the Port Authority of NY and NJ through January to March, 2020. The project was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, however, they transported it and completed it in their studio in the summer of 2020. It was selected for a virtual exhibition “Mother Tongue” by The Immigrant Artist Biennial.
What Is Your Name? is composed of a sound installation and blue and white airplane-like sculptures that face each other as though one is a reflection of the other. For this work, Lee and Takauji interviewed people in public spaces throughout New York City such as LaGuardia Airport and Flushing Queens Public Library to collect their names in their mother languages, handwriting, and voices. The various colors and alphabets on the white side of the work’s sculpture illustrate the diversity of people. The artists have transcribed these names into the International Phonetic Alphabet on the blue side to symbolize unity, signifying our collective effort to understand other languages: IPA is used to determine the pronunciation of any spoken language: Therefore, for anyone who studies a foreign language, IPA plays a critical role. IPA is a symbol of the universal use of language, and the only common ground of all the languages.
The unique handwriting and recorded voices symbolize the value of individual and cultural differences. Through this socially engaged art project, Lee and Takauji addressed people's origins and coexisting differences.
Interactive outdoor swing sculpture "Window" series
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|
2014
Size: H 13' W 15' L 18'
Material: Steel tubes, cast resin and acrylic panels
"Window" was made possible by the Model to Monument public art program, granted by The Art Students League of NY, and The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Window II |
Rye Town Park and Beach, Rye, NY / Jun 2019 - Nov 2020
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2019
Size: H 10' W 11' L 12.5'
Material: stainless steel, steel, paint, fabric, acrylic
Window series is a colorful large scale interactive sculpture incorporating a functional swing. The sculpture takes a dome-like shape with six clear acrylic windows where viewers can look in and out. Reddish colors contrast with the grey, blue, green colors of the cityscape. Its swing experience is extraordinary since the swing motion happens between the internal prismatic environment and the external landscape. It brings the sensation of traveling in and out of the spaces of different colors—like a sci-fi time-travel machine. Unlike conventional swing’s chain handles, it employs metal pipes which creates smooth movement without side to side motion.
Public comments:
Peggy Roalf, chief editor of AI-AP magazine, reviewed, “Window II also looks like a giant plaything—so irresistible that I found myself inside of it and flying through the air within minutes of seeing it last fall.”
An instagram user commented in July 2020, “Window II has the ability to send me to an alternative reality, one that operates on joy and harmony, not fear and hate. Thank you from the bottom of my heart”.
Size: H 10' W 11' L 12.5'
Material: stainless steel, steel, paint, fabric, acrylic
Window series is a colorful large scale interactive sculpture incorporating a functional swing. The sculpture takes a dome-like shape with six clear acrylic windows where viewers can look in and out. Reddish colors contrast with the grey, blue, green colors of the cityscape. Its swing experience is extraordinary since the swing motion happens between the internal prismatic environment and the external landscape. It brings the sensation of traveling in and out of the spaces of different colors—like a sci-fi time-travel machine. Unlike conventional swing’s chain handles, it employs metal pipes which creates smooth movement without side to side motion.
Public comments:
Peggy Roalf, chief editor of AI-AP magazine, reviewed, “Window II also looks like a giant plaything—so irresistible that I found myself inside of it and flying through the air within minutes of seeing it last fall.”
An instagram user commented in July 2020, “Window II has the ability to send me to an alternative reality, one that operates on joy and harmony, not fear and hate. Thank you from the bottom of my heart”.
Confession |
West Harlem 132nd Street Community Garden, 2020
Currently on view at Oeno Gallery Sculpture Garden, Ontario, Canada |
2020
Size: H62" W29" L72"
Medium: steel, stainless steel, composite wood
“Confession” takes the form of a reclining chair where visitors can lay down and relax to reflect upon and have an intimate conversation with themselves. It seems to be a nicely designed reclining chair at the first glance, and when they lay down on it, they will find themselves in reflection on a convex mirror that cannot be seen from other angles. While in an open public space, viewers can be absorbed in a private self-reflecting moment, juxtaposing the self-image against the surroundings such as trees in the garden and the sky: they are physically out in public, but mentally slipping into their internal visions. The concept of the work was inspired by the “Window” series.
Size: H62" W29" L72"
Medium: steel, stainless steel, composite wood
“Confession” takes the form of a reclining chair where visitors can lay down and relax to reflect upon and have an intimate conversation with themselves. It seems to be a nicely designed reclining chair at the first glance, and when they lay down on it, they will find themselves in reflection on a convex mirror that cannot be seen from other angles. While in an open public space, viewers can be absorbed in a private self-reflecting moment, juxtaposing the self-image against the surroundings such as trees in the garden and the sky: they are physically out in public, but mentally slipping into their internal visions. The concept of the work was inspired by the “Window” series.