Having amused a tree surgeon by calling to ask if I would kill a tree if I put PVA glue on it, he responded saying it was pretty inoffensive stuff. I applied imitation gold leaf to the cracks in bark on a tree. I wanted to draw attention to nature, for it to encourage us to reevaluate what is broken, what is beautiful within a framework of wabi sabi. It felt very meditative. Felt a bit Banksy. In retrospect it was quite performative.
I tried applying it to a leaf that had fallen from a tree, a symbol of time passing, of autumn. I left the leaf in location. It almost felt ceremonial.
I tried applying gold leaf into the cracks of a pavement. A man made construction, it juxtaposed the tree. Perhaps it invited humour to something mundane. Something unexpected.
I saw a piece of rubbish, a sweet rapper that almost looked like my imitation gold which made me wonder whether I was littering.
I like the idea of the impermanence of the art. As a water soluble glue it will wash away and so become a memory, an experience (save the photos). I like the idea that people will walk past it it, see it and wonder what the f*** is that, maybe be bemused, maybe amused. Their thoughts hijacked for a moment.
OSJ Wells Fine Art 