Thursday Salute to Orignials: Zurich’s Hand-Crocheted Tree
Meet the artist who builds an experimental reality with his art by exploring the senses and interacting with natural and man-made objects. “It is a contrast between organic and artificial.” His name is Ernesto Neto, and he is a modern conceptual artist!
Neto is a native of Brazil, and his culture influences his body of work. His latest project is called GaiaMotherTree. The art installation is located in the middle of Zurich’s train station where bystanders can experience the project in their daily commutes. The statement is a 65-foot tree – impressive not only in its scale, but in the fact that it is hand crocheted. Neto learned to crochet from his grandmother and uses intuition as his guide. The sculpture took several weeks and over twenty people to complete. In addition, he played on an unexpected sense by adding 1,300 pounds of fragrant spices to the sculpture, creating a feeling of relaxation.
Neto’s inspiration comes from a few sources. First, the Huni Kuin, an indigenous community whose values and sense of community are well respected by Neto. Second, he is inspired by Biomorphic architecture and the avant-garde movements of the sixties and seventies. Biomorphic architecture is the design of building influenced by an animal or human body and anatomical structure with materials to create aesthetic harmony.
This Thursday we’re saluting Ernesto Neto and his contemporary world creations! It is amazing how this artist creates a visual, physical, and sensory dialogue with the audience.
Sources: Tonya Bonakdar Gallery, This is Colossal, Art Net, Blou Arti Info, Wide Walls