Parasolstice – Winter Light 2015 Charles Avery: Tree No. 5 (from the Jadindagadendar), 2015

About

A towering five metres tall and cast in bronze, the illuminated sculpture draws entirely on mathematical equations for its design. Avery’s tree, ripe with strange fruit, is from Jadindagadendar, a municipal park situated in the town of Onomatopoeia, at the heart of the artist’s fictional island. The park is filled, not with living botanical specimens but with artificial trees, flowers and shrubs, an expression of the islanders’ refutation of nature. Part plant, part sculpture, part temple, Avery’s tree sits both within our world and outside it, offering a meeting point, or a place for momentary escape and contemplation.

Charles Avery’s The Islander’s is an evolving lifelong project, dedicated to describing the inhabitants, flora and fauna of an imaginary island. In a constantly growing body of work (drawing, sculpture and film), Avery explores and records in precise detail the customs, myths, religions and rituals of the islanders. An accompanying book, The Islanders: An Introduction, was first published by Parasol unit and Koenig Books, on the occasion of Avery’s major solo exhibition at the foundation in 2008.