Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira has applied his strange but beautiful signature style of sculpture to an amazing art installation of monumental proportions, creating a twisted network of gigantic tree roots out of repurposed wood that can be explored from the inside.
The epic piece of unique art, titled "Transarquitetonica," began with a tangled wooden and metal skeletal framework. Oliveira then collected discarded planks of plywood used in construction or to wall off construction sites from locations throughout the city to create inner and outer skins for the root system. The result is a colorful quilt-work of recycled materials in various stages of wear and decay. When these repurposed materials and the author's creative ideas come together, it's as if they've returned to their original, natural state. Visitors can explore the inside of the installation artwork and imagine that they're inside a monolithic tree's root system.
“It's wood that has been taken from nature, has been cut down into geometric structures, and they have been used by society and discharged. And I take it back and I rebuild forms there again, creating true nature forms. It's bringing back the tree aspects to the material,” explained the artist. “It's not just an object, it's an experience.”
Transarquitetonica will be on display at the Museu de Arte Contemporanea da Universidade in Sao Paulo through the end of November 2014.
