GEORGE LORIO

I am fascinated by found matter; following that inclination, I am presently using twigs from neighboring gardens and parks to construct fictions of trees, stumps, and logs; they are not renderings but reinterpretations of living forms. I use a narrative of social concern to engage dialogue. My sculptures convey my comments on ecological destruction and renewal; they present the value of nature’s provision of tress as they are the source of human shelter, oxygen, avian refuge, air pollution mitigation, carbon capture, limitations of soil erosion, and city cooling via the arboreal canopy. These are by-products of photosynthesis: climate restoration through the normal life cycle of trees.

Fallen branches and twigs are fragments of trees and are ephemeral. Constructing a sculpture alluding to a living tree with these waste pieces (relics) is a form of incantation-a poetic activity. An antidote to contemporary land development which promotes tree removal and appears to care more for denuding the landscape of trees in favor of barren parking lots and massive concrete and glass sculptures which are impervious to seed penetration. In each work, I sought to meditate on their function and beauty in the forest environment.