Tree Stories is the title of an exhibition of paintings by Mareea Farrasco she is hosting within one of the gallery spaces within her IMAGOLAND art gallery space. On display are 16 images featuring trees or which include elements of wood, each one very much a single-frame story and / or commentary on life and its history, folding into itself explorations of ideas and notions in a manner that ins intentionally provocative.
Tree are an integral part of our daily lives in various ways – whether through their tangible physical presence in our surroundings, remarkable in their singularity or as part of forests, orchards and more. They have served humanity from the very beginning through their wooden materiality, fulfilling our needs, and they continue to inspire through their spiritual significance as cultural, social, historical, mythical and artistic symbols. The Tree Stories exhibition offers a partial and subjective perspective on some of the forms and meanings of this nearly omnipresent object and concept.
– Mareea Farrasco
Simply and directly painted in a marvellously minimalist style, each piece is rich in dualities of context; a visual agent provocateur, so to speak, to stir our grey matter. Each image offers a simple surface message – which might be a reflection on the simple role of the tree as a symbol of life and growth or beauty and comfort, or something similar – together with a deeper, potentially provocative commentary on our complex and often violent relationship with religion and spirituality.
To take just one example: Temptation. The tree and apple speak to the ability of trees to provide sustenance for us through the provision of fruits, whilst almost bringing to might the myth of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (or more literally, “of everything”), and all that followed it within the tale of Genesis; thus, the tree can be seen as having been with us – in terms of the Biblical history of mankind – from the very beginning.
Engaging, complex, rich in symbolism, Tree Stories opened on January 27th, 2025, and will remain open for at least a month.
SLurl Details
- Tree Stories (IMAGOLand and Art Gallery, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 