Sycamore Leaves Edging the Roots of a Sycamore Tree: An Analysis
Art serves the purpose of transmitting ideas about our lives and environment - forcing people to think about different aspects of our lives. Artist Andy Goldsworthy has a very specific style, creating mostly temporary art using nature as both his materials and his setting. His works range from gold leaf covered rocks to a photo of him throwing a string of kelp into the sky for it to contort into some seemingly random shape. This paper, however, will discuss Goldsworthy 's work “Sycamore Leaves Edging the Roots of a Sycamore Tree” which shows the base of a tree lined with a yellow gradient fading into the ground made from the leaves of the very tree it surrounds. Through this work,
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The Sycamore Leaves piece highlights the complexity of our environment in the way that it shows how human activity or technology is present everywhere around us. By expanding our understanding of the piece to see it as a representation of our world we see that the tree can symbolize nature as a whole while the ordering of the leaves around the tree in an unnatural way can symbolize human action and “order.” Furthermore Goldsworthy 's representation gives the idea of a complex environment a positive connotation through the way that the leaves simply sit at the base of the tree following the contours of it roots yet not encroaching on its livelihood. The cohesion underscores how human action can work alongside and complement nature making for a complex yet still peaceful environment. The relationship between humans and nature is further explored in the way that Sycamore Leaves appeals to the idea of “mastering” …show more content…
Since the scientific revolution it has become easier and easier for us to use mathematics and science to decode the environment around us, which to some means a mastery of that environment. In his Discourse on Method, Rene Descartes even refers to us as the “masters and possessors of nature” as we can understand and control many aspects of it (Descartes, 41). Andy Goldsworthy comments on this through his use of nature in the creation of the piece. Although it shows how easily humans can manipulate nature, even something as small as leaves, to create what they want, the effect is temporary. Being that the piece is temporary… doomed to be dismantled by the very nature it is made from, the idea of nature’s supremacy is still preserved. Nature will always return to its own course and eventually no remanence of human intervention will remain. Thus while humans do have this power to manipulate and work with nature, it still remains its own master. This exemplifies a relationship between humans and nature where Goldsworthy recognizes the power of humans as well as the power of nature working simultaneously. Furthermore, Sycamore Leaves also comments on important aspects of nature
Through her masterful usage of color and lighting, painter Alexis Rockman seeks to display the overwhelming beauty of the natural world and its inhabitants in her painting Kapok Tree. With a color scheme of bright colors that pops out and grab the attention of the viewer and an emphasis on lighting that divides the painting into two separate scenes, Rockman’s Kapok Tree delivers its timeless message with ease.
To perceive, to understand of nature and its interconnections, in contemporary symbolic thinking, is impossible. Denying our illusions, or our experiences, results in the rejection society’s interpretations, ultimately denouncing our symbolic thinking. We define reality as interconnections between nature, using abstractions based on perceptions to explain “natural processes, rather than structure” as “probability patterns [represent] movement in human perception” (Capra). Abstractions, however, become susceptible to our biased perspectives, to our experiences, illusions and hallucinations. According to Capra, to understand the “cosmetic dance of destruction and creation,” to recognize relations as the essence of life, or as “self-organization, self-renewing, self-maintaining, we need a more comprehensive scientific framework that “incorporates ecological thinking, [rather] than contingent thinking” (Capra). Our biased perceptions of reality contradicts our scientific frameworks, our symbolic thinking, creating a flawed perception that constitutes an illusion of ecological supremacy, representing society’s disconnect with nature. Because our debilitating disorientation, our illusionary thinking and our perception, frames the foundations and dimensions of our interpretations of reality,
In nature, someone can hear the sounds of a creek flowing and birds chirping and insects buzzing; in civilization, someone can hear engines roaring, people chattering, and buildings being built. In nature, one feels happiness and contentment; in civilization, one feels guilt and misery and sorrow. These simplicities of nature are what appeals to William Cullen Bryant in the poem ‘Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood’. The poem tells the reader that nature is a happier place than civilization and that nature gives one the answers to their existence and problems of life that civilization created. Civilization is ugly and corrupt while nature is beauty and tranquility.
In Emerson’s “Nature” nature is referred to as “plantations of god” meaning that nature is sacred. Also mentioned, is that “In the woods is perpetual youth”(#) conveying that nature keeps people young. Therefore, these excerpts show that nature is greatly valued by these transcendentalists. Transcendentalists would likely care significantly about the environment. In contrast, nowadays nature is often and afterthought. Natures’ resources are being depleted for human use, and the beauty of nature is also not as appreciated by modern people as it was by transcendentalists. The threat to nature in modern times contrasts to the great appreciation of nature held by authors like Emerson and
Man has destroyed nature, and for years now, man has not been living in nature. Instead, only little portions of nature are left in the world
Throughout the Romanticism period, human’s connection with nature was explored as writers strove to find the benefits that humans receive through such interactions. Without such relationships, these authors found that certain aspects of life were missing or completely different. For example, certain authors found death a very frightening idea, but through the incorporation of man’s relationship with the natural world, readers find the immense utility that nature can potentially provide. Whether it’d be as solace, in the case of death, or as a place where one can find oneself in their own truest form, nature will nevertheless be a place where they themselves were derived from. Nature is where all humans originated,
...to understand that we are not the only species that affects the world; we aren’t the only ones that have an impact on what will happen. Plants need to be viewed as a helping species in our world. All of these plants looked at by Michael Pollan are crops; they help us just as much as we help them by industrializing them they continue to thrive while we are able to profit off peoples wants a desires for these plants. They are continuing to adapt to be used by us, to be transported around the world, to feed our families. Plants play a major role in our lives that some people don’t understand and the greatest threat facing all of these plants is the threat of falling out of fashion, once people lose interest the wonder of these plants are lost.
... of nature is to get the theme of the intermixing of technology with man and nature across; “I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red; /around our group I could hear the wilderness listen” (15-16) in these lines we get more of a feeling than an image of the intermixing of technology and nature.
In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there are many themes, symbols, and motifs that are found throughout the novel. For my journal response, I have chosen to discuss nature as a prevalent symbol in the book. The main character, Montag, lives in a society where technology is overwhelmingly popular, and nature is regarded as an unpredictable variable that should be avoided. Technology is used to repress the citizens, but the oppression is disguised as entertainment, like the TV parlour. On the opposite end of the spectrum, nature is viewed as boring and dull, but it is a way to escape the brainwashing that technology brings. People who enjoy nature are deemed insane and are forced to go into therapy. Clarisse says “My psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies,” (Bradbury 23) which shows she is a threat to the control that the government has put upon the people by enjoying nature.
The main driving element in William Morris’s life has been the nature around him and the houses he lived in. The most prominent influence was the Kelmscott Manor. Therefore, I chose to go with Kelmscott Manor’s layout plan that exhibits the “inspirational garden “ that led to most of his design decisions, a map that depicts the pockets in the manor and how Morris was inspired by it. In addition to this, an original drawing of the Kelmscott Manor’s exterior that depicts how the manor amalgamated within the garden. To reinforce this, I picked a watercolor of the Kelmscott Manor and a photo that captivates the various perspectives of the garden in the manor. Moving on to his designs that interprets his love for nature I picked up the very first of his wallpaper design of the trellis that has a very naturalistic touch to it with the vines which seemed to be an extension of the “inspiration garden” on to the paper. Also chose one of the wallpapers he designed during the middle of his lifetime and one of his last designs as well. The underlying concept behind picking those was to outline the consistency in his design concept throughout his life. William Morris was a poet , whose poetry and compositions were also inspired by nature, and to depict his poetry in form of naturalism concept I picked a stance from one of his compositions that talks about forest, flora and fauna which directly ties to his underlying concept. Also the compositions he wrote always had engraved borders which was ...
Gray, Jessica H. . "Creating Nature." English 610- British Romanticism. Professor J. Jennifer Jones, 25 10 2005. Web. 12 Mar 2010. .
Paul Celan composed his feelings for his mother regarding both her life and her passing in his poem “Aspen Tree.” The entire work is a vessel for his emotions toward her early departure and comparisons of the life she lived with various objects in nature. However, one emblem in particular perfectly represents Celan’s idealization of his mother. It can be argued that Celan uses the dandelion to epitomize his mother’s life because it highlights his themes of transiency, the light of life within darkness, and the cheating nature of death. Comparison between the dandelion, other wonders in nature, and his mother’s life support this claim as well as contextual hints from the piece itself.
Nature is often a focal point for many author’s works, whether it is expressed through lyrics, short stories, or poetry. Authors are given a cornucopia of pictures and descriptions of nature’s splendor that they can reproduce through words. It is because of this that more often than not a reader is faced with multiple approaches and descriptions to the way nature is portrayed. Some authors tend to look at nature from a deeper and personal observation as in William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, while other authors tend to focus on a more religious beauty within nature as show in Gerard Manley Hopkins “Pied Beauty”, suggesting to the reader that while to each their own there is always a beauty to be found in nature and nature’s beauty can be uplifting for the human spirit both on a visual and spiritual level.
In my opinion, Andy Goldsworthy is one of a kind artist since he does not need technology to create art but instead just needs leaves, branches, twigs and etcetera which can be found anywhere. Not only that but he has inspired me to do something similar like him, for example making my own version of his leaves artwork. I may even make archways using branches and twigs. Looking at this artist has made me improve since now I can identify which leaves/stones that will blend into one another with complementary colours making it more eye catching.
To understand the nature-society relationship means that humans must also understand the benefits as well as problems that arise within the formation of this relationship. Nature as an essence and natural limits are just two of the ways in which this relationship can be broken down in order to further get an understanding of the ways nature and society both shape one another. These concepts provide useful approaches in defining what nature is and how individuals perceive and treat