"Rooted" - Sculpture by Mike Gates

This piece is about the disjointed relationship between Man and Nature. We go to the lumber yard, pick up our pre-cut wood and go to town. Do we ever think much about the tree or bush the lumber was cut from?

Using a piece of quarter sawn lumber suspended on a wall, I wanted to cast a shadow of where the piece of lumber came from, and show its previous life as a once living object. The shadow form was constructed using brown and black dyed mulch.

While documenting the clean-up process of the installation, I was quite surprised and pleased with the result of the moisture in the mulch and the absorbent properties of the gallery floor.

The music is by a very talented guitarist Sergio Altamura. The track is "Les Milles Lumières d'Anita" from his album "Blu."