Artist Shane McAdams creates surreal pieces using cross sections of trees to celebrate the beauty of nature. Their organic, rugged forms sit in contrast to streaks of color that look like digital anomalies. This artwork reflects his love of landscapes. In many ways, his process acts as a distillation of landscape imagery into its purest form.
In a series called Trees, the artist creates a collision between natural and artificial elements, pairing wood and bark with synthetic materials.
To create these pieces, McAdams uses a variety of mixed media, like Elmer’s glue, ink, correction fluid, and plastic resin. He uses these relatively mundane materials in unusual ways, pushing them far beyond their traditional boundaries.
It’s the land itself that inspired McAdams to create his art. He grew up surrounded by spectacular rock formations in the southwest. The fact that nature can create intricate and beautiful masterpieces stuck with McAdams.
“I will always marvel over how the incremental effects of time can create something more structured and unique than I may ever make with my own hands,” he says. “This reminder of human folly has lingered. It has forced me to consider how my production as an artist relates to the actual source of inspiration, and to the land itself.”
The slices you see here are cut diagonally, which causes them to be oblong instead of round. Senses are heightened by the distorted image.
(via My Modern Met)
The result of this work is a strangely harmonious meeting of natural and crafted objects. It also sparks conversation about how organic compounds fit into a largely synthetic world, as these pieces are at once ancient and modern.
You can see more of McAdams’ work on his website.
