The Trees is a composition of abstract shapes created in response to the scale and play of light and shadow in Brookfield Place’s dynamic James K. Gray Galleria. When seen from afar, the artwork appears as a minimal graphic drawing, but as one approaches, intricate textures and repeating patterns are revealed. Within each hand-finished, square metal tile is a complex three-dimensional surface that transforms with the environmental ebbs and flows of the day.
This artwork is a companion to The Forest and The Trees, Lexier’s sculpture located in the 6th Avenue lobby. The source imagery for both artworks is a series of simple line drawings and numbers found in a book of cross-stitch patterns. The shapes that comprise The Trees can be read as sixteen individual forms, as a detail of one of the tiles found in the companion sculpture, or as a close-up view of a tree’s bark.
The Trees balances between the natural and manufactured worlds, creating an opportunity to perceive and appreciate Calgary’s abundant and ever-changing natural light.