Guiseppe Penone at YSP

Another artist with an exhibition currently at YSP is the Italian, Guiseppe Penone: 'A Tree in the Wood'. He seeks to explore humanity's intimate relationship with the natural world and many of his works feature trees. The centrepiece of the exhibition in the Underground Gallery was 'Matrice', a huge fir tree sliced in two and carved along one of its growth rings. Impressive (and hard to photograph! See part of it in the photo at the very bottom of this blog post). I preferred the work shown on the right, which was also a tree split and carved along one of its growth rings, as though a tree was discovered within itself.                                                                                                                                In the grounds, there was a series of huge bronze casts of trees  including the cast of a lightning-struck tree, its brutally exposed interior lined with gold leaf.                                                                                                                                                    The work at the top of the page is 'Propagazione', a delicate ink drawing on paper, emanating from a single fingerprint and then directly painted across the whole wall. The whorls spiral out, recalling the growth rings of a tree and speaking of our individual identity within the universe.