The Rare Graffiti Tree and Other Urban Species from photographer Mitch Epstein

Photographer Mitch Epstein's work at up Sikkema Jenkins through this past weekend couldn't come at a better time. Outside, the first really Spring (or perhaps Summer?) weather had set the trees in bloom, and inside Epstein's homage to New York was similarly alush.

Epstein spent a year photographing the great trees of New York city (as you can see in the detail below NYC boasts the rare urban Graffiti Tree species). The trees, rather than people or buildings, become the focus of the shots.

Unfortunately the trees seem to be trying to kill me right now. All the blooming means seasonal allergies are here, and I am sneezing my head off. Find more information about the show here and more information about Epstein on his website http://www.mitchepstein.net/.

O Christmas Tree

Thy leaves are so unchanging. The first known "Tannenbaum," or Christmas tree, song lyrics date back to 1550. Above is the Metropolitan Museum's beautiful tree and its famous nativity scene. Next on my list is the Rockefeller Center tree, which I can't wait to see all lit up.

I got the Christmas tree spirit myself this weekend, at the annual NYC Santacon. Taken by the tree at South Street Seaport.

Apollo and Daphne

Bernini's Apollo and Daphne at the Villa Borghese

It's a beautiful Spring. Perhaps we should all get chased through the forest and pray to be turned into trees?

I still contend that Daphne gets the better end of the "tree-woman" (see my Huldra's post) stick in art history, and this statue testifies to that. Bernini tells the myth of Daphne being turned into a tree to escape the God Apollo beautifully, and I remember when I saw it in person at 15 being awestruck by the movement and softness of the sculpture. It is still one of my favorites.

Speaking of trees: Color and Season

The Park. Gustav Klimt

Speaking of trees, something about the end of the season has me nostalgic for the lush green leaves of summer. Here are my favorite summer trees...all green with no hint of the coming autumn. Pisarro's colors especially just glow with a warm energy.

Ferry on a River. Salomon van Ruysdael

 

Chestnut Trees at Osny. Camille Pisarro

Fontainebleau: Oak Tree at Bas Brea. Camille Corot

Promenade Among the Olive Trees. Henri Matisse

Matisse's colors are like a swan song. Then Monet's pale colors and then Mondrain's stark palette speak of the coming winter.

Four Trees. Claude Monet

Grey Tree. Piet Mondrain

But no point in thinking about that now. The leaves haven't started dropping yet, and tonight should be a great kick off to the New York Fall art season, with lots of great gallery openings, including a group showat Friedrich Petzel Gallery and Nathan Carter at Casey Kaplan.

Maggie Tobin's Luminous Treetops

 Green

I found Maggie Tobin through Art In Brookyn--always nice to have hyperlocal resources--and the artist maes some lovely images of tree branches, displaced and translucent. It reminds me of lying on your back in the grass and looking up to see the such shine through branches, all black in thick relief.

Tobin notes how she captures such a deep yet luminous effect in her artist's statement:

The trees are painted in oil on translucent vellum stretched over mirror creating a subtle luminous quality and 3-dimensional effect. I try to capture the sublime quality of the Hudson River Luminists as well as the sense of limitless space in twelfth century Chinese Southern Sung landscapes. Within my paintings there are no cultural references; I aim to reflect the timelessness of nature in a fleeting moment.

Fontenelle

The subject matter and the medium really work well together here. AND The artist's website features flipbooks (fun!) and other goodies.