Blue Trees (2011)

Konstantin Dimopoulos

Formerly applied on trees at Garden City Community Park, 6620 Garden City Rd. (2011-2013)

Area: City Centre
Location: No longer on display

This Artwork is no longer on display

Materials: Temporary colourant on trees.

Program: Unique Programs
Ownership: Biennale
Sponsored By: Public Art Reserve

Description of Work

A temporary ultramarine blue colourant has been applied to 18 trees in Garden City Park. The colour used on the trees is biologically safe pigmented water. The colour will naturally degrade and the trees gradually revert to their natural state.

This artwork was a temporary installation and part of the Vancouver International Biennale 2009-2011.

Artist Statement

"Blue Trees" is social-action art. Through colour I am making a personal statement about the spirituality of trees and their importance to our very survival: trees are the lungs of the planet.

Colour is a powerful stimulant, a means of altering perception and defining space and time. The fact that blue is a colour that is not naturally identified with trees suggests to the viewer that something unusual, something out of the ordinary has happened. It becomes a magical transformation.

In nature colour is used both as a defensive mechanism, a means of protection, and as a mechanism to attract. "Blue Trees" attempts to waken a similar response from viewers. It is within this context that the blue denotes sacredness, something reverential.

Trees are largely invisible in our daily lives, and it’s not until it’s too late that we realize how important they are to us both aesthetically and environmentally. Each year an area of native forests, at least the size of Belgium, is cleared from around the planet. Yet while we do this we look at whether other planets can be inhabited, so we’ve got somewhere else to go once we’ve destroyed our own.