Charles Ray American, born 1953
Hinoki
2007
Charles Ray's 'Hinoki' (2007) is a life-size sculpture of a fallen cypress tree — carved from Japanese hinoki cypress by master Osaka carpenters following a cast Ray made of an actual decaying log in the Los Angeles hills. The radical slowness of the carving (nearly five years) and the serene formality of the result turn a rotting tree into an object of paradoxical endurance. The Art Institute of Chicago has placed the work outdoors year-round at the heart of its modern wing.
Exhibition Venue
Image source: Art Institute of Chicago