Mark Prier

Artwork

Pando, 2008

Pando consists of two large-scale sculptural works made up with over 400 metres of trembling aspen trees cut from a farm fencerow in rural Grey County, Ontario, Canada. Both sculptures refer to Pando (Latin for “I spread”), a large network of trembling aspen trees in Utah that spans 43 hectares and is considered one of the world’s largest organisms.

Pando takes the displaced material from annual farm maintenance and transforms it into two new structures that re-assert its mass. Trees like trembling aspen grow in networks—called clonal colonies—by sending up new shoots to replace old ones, making them formidable survivors. Pando’s grid works in a similar manner, allowing portions to be removed without threatening the grid as a whole.

Materials: trembling aspen, muslin, metal components.

Photos: Gareth Lichty.

Front view of a sculpture sitting in a gallery. It's made of young trembling aspen trunks cut to different lengths and assembled into a three-dimensional rectangular grid. The grid looks as though it has been partially hollowed out, and can be entered. Long muslin panels are tied into the grid at the top and back.

Angled side view of a sculpture sitting in a gallery. It's made of young trembling aspen trunks cut to different lengths and assembled into a three-dimensional rectangular grid. The grid looks as though it has been partially hollowed out, and can be entered. Long muslin panels are tied into the grid at the top and back.

A wide view of two sculptures sitting in a gallery. Both are made of young trembling aspen trunks cut to different lengths and assembled into three-dimensional shapes. One is an eroded rectangular grid with long muslin panels tied into the top and back, while the other's shape resembles a hill.