One hundred foot line

A towering stainless steel tree put down roots in Ottawa in October 2010. I think it’s lovely, although I definitely don’t love the barriers that surround it. It’s somewhat ironic actually, as the artist describes their work as an attempt to reflect human encroachment on the environment...

Anyway, it’s another image with prominent blues and greens... what can I say!? In my defence, it’s summer time in Ottawa and we’re bursting with blues and greens!

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“One Hundred Foot Line, the 30.5-metre-tall sculpture by New York artist Roxy Paine, was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada. It stands behind the gallery on Nepean Point, National Capital Commission land, not far from the Samuel de Champlain statue. Gallery director Marc Mayer can't stop looking at the "breathtaking" work, a tree without branches that shimmers in the sun and tapers up into the sky. "It's an imitation of nature at the scale of nature, in the context of nature," he said.

The sculpture, made of stainless steep pipes usually used in manufacturing, is part of his Dendroids series of sculptures — he once covered the roof of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art with stainless steel branches — and marks his tallest sculpture to date. According to a gallery media release, Paine's sculptures are "an attempt to observe trees as a language governed by rules and structures," and "reflect his thoughts on human encroachment on the environment." This sculpture, he said, owes a lot to the area's landscape. "This high bluff overlooking the river, it sort of amplifies this reaching to the sky," Paine said.

The gallery paid just under $1 million for the project, one eighth of its annual acquisition budget, but Mayer said it's worth every penny.”

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