Lucas Guilbert: The Art of Giving Trees a Second Life

Lucas Guilbert: The Art of Giving Trees a Second Life

#LucasGuilbert is an #artist who creates #sculptures that invite us to ponder the essence of life and the relationship between the organic and the man-made. His pieces are not just beautiful objects, but they tell stories of trees that have grown for decades, being uprooted and turned into something new, something that speaks to the soul of the viewer.

#Sacrum is one of his pieces that captures the essence of the natural world. The object behind the vision for Sacrum is portrayed in a series of photographs that showcase a tree that once stood near where the sculpture was created. Made from the centre slab of a gnarly, old and twisted Blackwood, the wood itself greatly contributed to the creative process. Carved green, the stresses in the material released as it dried, giving the work its distinctive quality. The thin steel support flexes with the smallest vibration, the lightest breeze, the softest touch - a truck going down the street, a child brushing by it or a summer breeze will trigger its pendulum motion. Just as the tree that it once was a part of, swayed for decades, weathering storms, tremors, falling neighbours, and passing wildlife.

#Ceta is another of Guilbert's pieces that explores the relationship between wood and metal. It originated as a humble hardwood sleeper, part of a workbench. The grain and features of the wood inspired these shapes, smooth, sinuous, echoes of marine life, waves, cetaceans. Some inlay of resin and existing metal inclusions, answer to the angular steel base grounding the piece. The anchor allows the #woodsculpture to be rotated, presenting a near endless variety of forms and corresponding shadows.

#Leaf is a piece that explores the journey of a tree and the essence that remains after its usefulness has waned. Guilbert created this piece from a tree that was grown wild and harvested in Canada, shipped to this land, and stood as a nondescript oversized beam in a church hall for a few decades. The piece is a finely balanced equilibrium between vertical and horizontal form, and the artist intends the two halves to be movable, framing the architecture or being framed by it. The form evokes growth, mineral concretions, biological networks, and plant geometry. The treatment of the wood echoes the passage of time, giving a leathery, fossilized finish to the vegetal shape.

#Mul is a piece that explores the concept of co-existence and organization in society. The name is a play on letters, from French "moules," mussels in English. Guilbert salvaged a centenarian C. maculata slab from a tree removal in Northcote, Vic, to create this piece. It invites us to think about the microscopic cellular structures that we are constructed by and how they differ from the forest of trees or the bed of mussels. The mussel appears to live in absolute autarky, or self-sufficiency, with only their hard, calcified external shell ever coming in contact with their kin. But how isolated are they, really? How much do trees exchange with one another? How isolate are we, ever?

These stunning and unique sculptures by #LucasGuilbert are now on display at the #MelbournePopUp gallery, showcasing the best of #AustralianArt and #AustralianContemporaryArt. Guilbert's sculptures, made of #Blackwood, are a perfect addition to any #luxuryinterior or #naturalluxury setting. They are a testament to the power of #galleryart to inspire and move us, to challenge us to see the world in new ways, and to appreciate the beauty and