the tree show

The Creatrix

Yesterday afternoon a couple of us went to see Mark Ryden's new work in The Tree Show. After years of having a strange fascination with trees, I thought this would be interesting. We get there and I instantly fell in love.

My favorite, which I believe is titled The Tree of Life, hung on a wall of its own. It was maybe eight feet tall and 5 feet wide. It pictured a tree, with a young women sitting atop its branches. She was in a gown holding flowers with a bee near her head. The leaves were full and round. In the middle of its trunk was an eye looking. Its roots were outside the soil with a skull beside them. The painting's frame was an art piece in itself - carved wood of branches, leaves, squirrels, birds, deer, and the top's center had a doll head with antlers (also carved). There was something about this tree, something magical.

When i wondered to the second room, there was a smaller sketch of the tree. Drawn in only pencil, it explained the different areas of the tree (wisdom, love, mercy, and so on) and the meanings of the different characters - some of which included air, fire and other elements belonging to the earth.

I left amazed, happy and with a t-shirt.

As a sidenote, the painting I fell in love with was a breezy $800,000. Remember, my birthday is in December.