Trees have allowed me to express emotional states. Grief, longing, loss, discontent, and how uncomfortable it is to be literally stuck or “planted” in your environment or conditions. We must understand how important resilience and ingenuity are as tactics to cope with our given surroundings, as well as the knowledge we gain as we march on relentlessly day in and day out.
London Plane trees are especially resilient. They fight pollution. That is why we choose to place them in urban areas. Every year they shed bark to make room for a new season. At a time when my life was undergoing dramatic change, and all my closest relationships were under great scrutiny I found myself uncomfortable and cold under these leafless trees during another snowless winter here in Brooklyn. These trees have a defensive growth pattern that helps them fight disease. Their branches grow out wildly in different directions creating these calligraphic gestures. They have found beauty in making the best of a bad situation.
Before I began painting trees my work was focused on showing the hard-won intimate moments I could only enjoy during a somewhat burdened life. A life where I was only ever leveraging time, money, and everything else I could to eke out moments to be with my work. When I was younger and growing up here in the city, getting home late, near or at dawn. After falling asleep on the train I’d stumble home through Ditmas Park into East Flatbush. The nicer areas would have these trees in the malls and the blocks where the Victorians have lawns. Seeing them always gave me a sense of stability and safety. My childhood was violent. Partly my fault. Partly circumstance. The situations I chose to put myself in because of those circumstances. Graffiti, drug use, etc. When I found myself under these trees it gave me a sense that humanity has an innate yearning to seek out beauty amid so much unfairness, that gave me solace.