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Giuseppe Penone’s hand is so strong, it can squeeze trees. I’m talking about his bronze sculpture of a hand, of course. This Italian artist installed it onto a tree in Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, in 1968, and it’s even more spectacular after many decades have passed.
The “Continuerà a crescere tranne che in quel punto” (“It Will Continue to Grow Except at this Point”) was made from a cast of the artist’s actual hand and lower arm. Giuseppe attached in onto a sapling, and throughout the years the tree would thicken around the metal. Now, it looks like that hand is stretching the bark with its fingers.
“I feel the forest breathing, and hear the slow, inexorable growth of the wood,” Penone wrote in 1968. “I match my breathing to that of the green world around me, I feel the flow of the tree around my hand placed against the trunk.” It’s hard to know what impact the metal will have on the tree in the long run, but the contrast between cold metal and organic wood looks mesmerizing.
Giuseppe Penone started this project in 1968
This bronze sculpture was made from a cast of the artist’s actual hand
And it’s still gripping!
What do you think ?
Yvonne Bernal 7 years ago
To me the most interesting part was the impressions from the fingertips. It actually gave the illusion of squeezing the trunk!
Quant 7 years ago
For those who are wondering why the tree hasn't grown more - this has to do with the fact that there is a bronze hand attached to it, strangling it. Had the "artist" taken his time during grade school biology classes he would immediately understand that this idea, while neat, is ultimately stupid, and damages a living being. It of course has a significant impact on the trees ability to grow. I strongly suggest looking up three words cambium, xylem, and phloem and suddenly everything will become clear as we begin to comprehend how new cells are created, vessels are build to take up nutrients and transport them around the tree.
Jo Bertels 7 years ago
Why do you see barbwire grow into trees, who are completely around the tree, even more than this hands grip?
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Jacey Roate 7 years ago
Like how people say the tree's not gre but if you look at all the other trees in the background they're the same width so?
Richard Petch 7 years ago
You would not dare do that in England as the gypsies would have melted it down within half an hour of it being fixed to that tree.
Jo Bertels 7 years ago
I like the hole idea behind the concept, but I can't belief that this tree is not bigger after 50 years of growing?
James Roe 7 years ago
This piece is in the Alps, not Dallas, Texas. Photos of the work were in a show of Penone's work at the Nasher in 2016. The piece could not have been installed at the Nasher in 1968; The Nasher opened in 2003. In 1968 the Nasher Garden was storefronts and warehouses, not snow dusted woody slopes.
Yvonne Bernal 7 years ago
To me the most interesting part was the impressions from the fingertips. It actually gave the illusion of squeezing the trunk!
Quant 7 years ago
For those who are wondering why the tree hasn't grown more - this has to do with the fact that there is a bronze hand attached to it, strangling it. Had the "artist" taken his time during grade school biology classes he would immediately understand that this idea, while neat, is ultimately stupid, and damages a living being. It of course has a significant impact on the trees ability to grow. I strongly suggest looking up three words cambium, xylem, and phloem and suddenly everything will become clear as we begin to comprehend how new cells are created, vessels are build to take up nutrients and transport them around the tree.
Jo Bertels 7 years ago
Why do you see barbwire grow into trees, who are completely around the tree, even more than this hands grip?
Load More Replies... Jacey Roate 7 years ago
Like how people say the tree's not gre but if you look at all the other trees in the background they're the same width so?
Richard Petch 7 years ago
You would not dare do that in England as the gypsies would have melted it down within half an hour of it being fixed to that tree.
Jo Bertels 7 years ago
I like the hole idea behind the concept, but I can't belief that this tree is not bigger after 50 years of growing?
James Roe 7 years ago
This piece is in the Alps, not Dallas, Texas. Photos of the work were in a show of Penone's work at the Nasher in 2016. The piece could not have been installed at the Nasher in 1968; The Nasher opened in 2003. In 1968 the Nasher Garden was storefronts and warehouses, not snow dusted woody slopes.
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