Zsuzsanna Szegedi The Lure of Trees Sept 5 - Nov 15, 2009 Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, MA Download the exhibit catalogue essay written by Francine Koslow Miller. ~ This exhibit includes paintings created during my artist-in-residence at Fruitlands and also works from the ongoing Presence/Absence project.

The Lure of Trees at Fruitlands September 2009

ARTIST STATEMENT: Inspired by nature and our attachment to the land, my current work steps beyond the straightforward representation of our environment and
explores the complexity of our relationship to it. This exhibit contains some of my previous work from an ongoing project entitled Presence/Absence in addition to
new paintings recently created on-site here at Fruitlands Museum.

Using trees as a focal point, these works explore the harmony of contrast that exists both in ourselves and in nature: protected vs. wild, removed vs. remained, light vs. dark.
Each is defined by its opposite - intrinsically linked. The theme of opposing forces has also been underlined during my Fruitlands’ experience.

As I began my artist-in-residence, my attention was first drawn to the raw visual aspects of the weather broken branches. The remains of last year’s ice storm revealed the
vulnerable side of these beautiful giants. Their fresh wounds on otherwise massive structures and piles of broken limbs were strangely inspirational. 

Later, as I got more familiar with the historic aspect of the site, the human intention of living in close harmony with nature further informed my paintings. More specifically,
the supposed conversations and arguments between members of the transcendental Fruitlands Experiment as they debated over what the perfect life should be, inspired my on-site work.

These contradictions between man and the search for that “perfect life” play well with the concept of my previous work. As the playfulness of negative space, the intentionally unpainted details bring attention to the void, eventually leads to the bigger questions of Presence/Absence and The Lure of Trees: Do we only appreciate beauty in its absence? Why do we so relentlessly pursue perfection when it is life’s unique imperfections that make us so perfectly happy? Why do our eyes so easily “fill in the blanks” and in doing so, what are we missing?

Through these questions the big picture begins to emerge in sharp, clear focus: It is not what we see that matters, but how we see. 

This exhibit was funded by:
Fruitlands Museum Artist-in-Residence Program, The Puffin Foundation Ltd.
and sponsored by Gamblin Artist Colors Co.