Heavy Shadows, 2016
630 x 200 x 160cm
Place: international Wood Sculpture Open-Air Symposium Gdańsk, Poland
Materials: beech, charcoal, MS adhesive

Heavy Shadows

The sculpture, which is going to be installed in a Botanical Garden in Gdańsk, Poland, is based on the idea of a living thing, (the young beech tree), not being changed significantly. However, a certain feeling is still expressed through this tree based sculpture. For this purpose, from the beginning of the trunk, and following the direction of its growth, the beech tree is covered in charcoal. The heavy shadows are expressed by this charcoal, that burden the tree.

These shadows aim to express the feeling of internal exhaustion, which many people carry inside themselves. Both-Asmus was particularly thinking of refugees, imagining the feeling of having to leave and being unwelcome in foreign countries. The hope of the artist, Christoph Both-Asmus, is that a compassion for such people will arise from his work, which will lead to greater solidarity within our global society. At the same time, Both-Asmus is active as a “sustainable artist”. The weight, which is present along the “spine” of the tree, also unmistakably represents the severe stress that is on the planet.

When you look at the sculpture, you see that I used the charcoal only on the natural form of the tree trunk. In this way I have made visual the forces of nature that can be unleashed. - Christoph Both-Asmus

Making-of: International Wood Sculpture Open-Air Symposium Gdańsk, Poland
August 29 - September 10, 2016