Graft 2008 - 2009

Roxy Paine’s “Graft” is a massive sculpture of a tree, reaching almost 45 feet into the air. It's built from stainless steel, and when you first see it, the cool gray color palette might feel a bit distant, a little cold. But stick with it. What interests me is the way Paine builds up this thing, piece by piece. Look at how the branches twist and turn, seemingly at random, like a drawing in space. There is this kind of making that is a slow, steady, iterative process, which is kind of lovely. You can see the joins, the welds, where one piece of metal meets another. They're not trying to hide the work, but showing you how the tree came together. The way the light catches and reflects off the steel gives it an almost ethereal quality. It makes me think of other artists who use industrial materials in organic ways, like Eva Hesse. Like her work, Roxy Paine’s Graft reminds us that art can be both beautiful and a little bit unsettling, and that there’s always more than one way to see the world.