What inspired you to create Tree Of Life, how did the idea evolve from conception to realization?
Many years ago I started to make digital paintings, a kind of mixed media with photographs of cities like New York, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and some others. I made a diverse mix of photos with these cityscapes and then combined that with lots of intricate pictures of flora and fauna. The idea here was “what would happen if we let nature run its course”, instead of managing urban environments, cutting down trees etc, what happens if we just let things grow? I was thinking of skyscrapers in New York as a habitat for butterflies, stuff like this. 

This was back in 2011, but a few years ago I came back to the idea, and then it evolved into Tree Of Life. The new concept is more around trees that have roots in not just soil, but maybe urban environments, sea life, crystals, glass, meteors, even technology. I wanted to create a diverse body of work here, which is why there are 1000 of them, and also you will see they are quite dreamy. It’s a reimagination of nature and unfamiliar environments, an embroidery of textures and places. 

Space is a theme that features frequently in your work, with astronauts, meteors and stars. What significance does it hold to you?
When you look at significant historical artworks and sculptures, and I’m really thinking about ancient history here, you frequently see heroic figures used in a variety of ways. The Roman era for example — this doesn’t always mean that the figures themselves are heroic but they are used as recurring motifs in various works. I see astronauts as the heroes of now, going into the future. They have a distinctive uniform, and like many of those figures of the past, they are explorers. So few people have actually ventured away from the Earth. I like to think about these figures cast in the same light as The Thinker by Rodin. Imagine if we could have a similar piece, a sculpture on Mars in the future, depicting these explorers, who are exploring for the rest of humanity. Space is a theme that for me always brings a lot of excitement, positive energy and yeah, this sense of exploration

What kind of data, and inputs went into Tree Of Life?
A very broad scope, I initially had a really strong sense of what I wanted the work to look like and the kind of nature inputs we should use — but as I experimented more the inputs became much more diverse than I had initially started with. There were some challenges, but these were really positive ones, involving the 3D animation and evolving that process with my collaborators. At one point I moved the process, the work, to a new location in the forest to be closer to nature and trees, bringing more influences from the natural world.

You often showcase your processes on social media, how did you do that with this work?
Yeah, it’s quite different to the normal processes because I usually work with sculptures, casting metals etc. I started to post images from similar development points with Tree Of Life and lots of people in the comments thought it was AI generated! I realized that most people think any digital art these days is somehow generative, so I had to show more of the process of animation, how we were crafting every tree, growing the foliage, creating the dragonflies and ladybugs from scratch. We really had to show this was done with our own hands, and that it was a painstaking, meticulous and beautiful process - just like my other sculptures!

This season our Encounters theme is “Evolving Perspectives”. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the changing dynamics between artists and technology?
I think as long as technology evolves, people, and art will evolve with it of course. In my lifetime we’ve seen the widespread adaptation of 3D modeling software, and 3D printing in nearly every field. In sculpture you can create printed models, even from the subject materials, to test new ideas out — it’s really amazing. My father is a big tech guy, always open to new ideas, and I try to carry that on with my children too. Whenever they show me new apps I try to pay attention, you never know what you might discover from it. That open-mindedness can be a special thing. I think my father might have even bought a 3D printer! I think as an artist it is hard not to get excited about new mediums and ideas. I was looking at the Vision Pro headset and wondering, what could I make with that? This energy keeps you going.  

What do you hope people take away from Tree Of Life?
Intrigue and magic. I think this body of work, the way it morphs, the way it moves and the uniqueness of each piece should instill some sense of wonder. My preferred response would be “Holy shit, what am I looking at? What is happening?”. In addition the body of work is also about planting trees, so I hope that people not only take away something, but also that we give something. We might potentially plant 10,000 trees, and I keep thinking about this number, the idea. Imagine a field of 10,000 trees, the length and width of 10 American school buses. I wonder what it would look like… ■