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Home > Auction Houses >Recent Auction Results >2013 Benefit and Auction at Creative Capital >Tree of 40 Fruits by Sam van Aken
 

Auction Result: Tree of 40 Fruits by Sam van Aken
This Sam van Aken artwork, Tree of 40 Fruits, was at auction. Find details below, browse more lots by Aken, or see full cataloging and price information in the artnet Price Database.
 
 
Tree of 40 Fruits by Sam van Aken
 
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  Sam van Aken
TitleTree of 40 Fruits
DescriptionThe Tree of 40 Fruit is an ongoing series of 25 unique hybridized fruit trees by contemporary artist Sam Van Aken. Through a process of sculpting by way of grafting and pruning, each tree in this series has the capacity to grow 40 varieties of fruit from the family of stone fruits, including peach, plum, apricot, nectarine and cherry. Blossoming in variegated tones of pink and white in the spring, each tree will reach an approximate size of 20 feet tall with a canopy of 20 feet.
The Trees of 40 Fruit are allegorical sculptures. Found throughout Western religion, the number 40 symbolizes the infinite, a bounty that is beyond calculation. Like the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, these trees are a potential; they are the beginning of a narrative that transforms the site they are located in. The far-reaching implications of these sculptures include issues of genetic engineering, biodiversity versus food monoculture, and, ultimately, the symbiosis of humankind’s relation to nature. Van Aken’s Trees of 40 Fruit begin a critical dialogue.
One of the most challenging aspects of the work is the planning or envisioning of how each graft, time of blossom, and fruiting will change the aesthetic and balanced quality of the tree. It is at this point that the process becomes sculptural. In speaking of his project, Sam Van Aken has said: “Nature poses a challenging collaborator. Where a bronze sculpture would provide an easier ally, working with living material can be temperamental. But it is this living quality that I feel gives the tree its greatest impact and potential.”
Mediumgrafted fruit tree
Year of Work2008-2013
SizeHeight 240 in. / Height 609.6 cm.
Editionedition of 25
Sale ofCreative Capital: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 [Lot 00008]
2013 Benefit and Auction
Estimate30,000 - 30,000 USD
Sold For30,000 USD Currency Converter
ProvenanceCourtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
 
 
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