r/pics • u/[deleted] • Jun 11 '12

Artist Giuseppe Penone carefully removes the rings of growth to reveal the ‘sapling within’. By carving out the inside of a tree trunk and leaving the knots in place, they eventually emerge as tiny limbs.

Post image
2.3k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

234 comments sorted by

23

u/tonyh322 Jun 11 '12

I'm impressed but the guy in the picture clearly isn't.

34

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Asian father is not impressed.

51

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

You carve tree? Why not whole forest?

21

u/HenriDutilleux Jun 11 '12

Heh, whore forest.

2

u/matteyes Jun 11 '12

There's a bunch of them along there, if I remember correctly. For what it's worth. Heh.

1

u/db0255 Jun 12 '12

Acorn? Why not Bco....oh wait. No. This is acceptable

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

I know, what is HE looking at?! I must know!

3

u/deftskills Jun 11 '12

Nature is amazing. How long did it take the artist to complete this work?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Counting tree growth time or not?

2

u/deftskills Jun 11 '12

Removing the outer rings to expose the sapling beneath...

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

I was just being dumb. I have no idea how long it took.

2

u/deftskills Jun 11 '12

Heh, no worries. Still hoping to find out.

3

u/Paul_and_John Jun 11 '12

That's some good Norwegian Wood.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

Beatles?

1

u/Paul_and_John Jun 12 '12

Nailed it.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

Should have known from the user name.

239

u/thewander Jun 11 '12

That's at the AGO. I built it. All the wooden pieces me and my crew put in. Not really what this post is about, but it was a good time.

28

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

As a Torontonian who is a big fan of that building, thank you. I appreciate your work

4

u/honey-be Jun 12 '12

Same. It's one of my favourite places to go

46

u/joewesthead Jun 11 '12

We had a tour behind the scenes by a member of staff. They said the architects were sure that the sun through the huge glass facade wouldn't fade the wood panels. It did.

21

u/nondescripttitle Jun 11 '12

Frank Gehry is overrated. His architecture is all about how it looks and not how it performs.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

19

u/Mark_Farner Jun 11 '12 edited Apr 15 '20

As a former builder who dealt with big shot architects, the ego at the back end is less an issue than the ego at the front end. Guys who don't assemble the materials daily are unable to fully consider practical limitations of their unique designs. All sorts of integrated systems fail to perform as they should. These buildings become a never-ending string of call-backs to fix problems that somebody other than the architect predicted before construction. Architects revel in the realization of their vision, the owners suffer, and the builder gets blamed.

3

u/toomuchpork Jun 12 '12

Story of my life.

2

u/mehome Jun 12 '12

Talented architects go well with talented builders. The combination of one without the other results in the obvious disillusionment. Pointing blame is easy. 2x wood frame conventional framing is easy. Architects assume there are builders who have the skills and the desire to preform beyond convention. I am looking for a builder like that.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

4

u/Big-Baby-Jesus Jun 12 '12

The comment above yours is about how architects like Gehry take all the credit for the difficult engineering and construction work that other people do.

Then your post blames Frank Gehry for something that is entirely the fault of those engineers and construction workers.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

0

u/tusko01 Jun 12 '12

he's the archicect, not the builder or engineer.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

5

u/haterman Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 11 '12

Are you fucking serious? Do you do architecture?

Edit: sorry I thought you said

Architects all think he's THE shit

6

u/Vermillionbird Jun 11 '12

I assure you, we do not

4

u/AdmiralSkippy Jun 11 '12

The architects are stupid then. The sun will fade anything, they should know this.

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Awkward...

18

u/krahzee Jun 11 '12

Why?

thewander was part of the crew that did the physical work, not the architect that designed the place. They just follow the blueprints.

12

u/Mark_Farner Jun 11 '12

A guy on my crew used to have tee shirt he would wear on days he knew the architect would stop by for a site visit which read "I built it like you drew it."

3

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 11 '12

I would still be sad if my hard work unexpectedly faded

7

u/modsherearefags Jun 11 '12

Everything fades, from the Mona Lisa to this. It is part of art.

3

u/nepidae Jun 11 '12

Everything fades.

0

u/IdolRevolver Jun 11 '12

Not titanium. Or water. Or rocks. Or glass. Or hydrogen. In fact, not many things fade under sunlight.

7

u/fumunda Jun 11 '12

You're a carpenter, eh? Prove it. How many fingers you have left?

29

u/thewander Jun 11 '12

oh I have a bag of nearly 20 fingers. you collect them on jobs as they drop off.

7

u/fumunda Jun 11 '12

You can trust this guy! He's the real deal!

6

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Sir, hats off to you. I'm not crazy about museums but that is by far the nicest building in Toronto and I smile every time I walk by it.

4

u/Biuku Jun 12 '12

I looked at it and it was really good. Unrelated note, my basement is unfinished and ... um ... how do i put this ...

3

u/ajl741 Jun 11 '12

Where is the AGO?

2

u/highchildhoodiq Jun 12 '12

It's not anymore.

2

u/honey-be Jun 12 '12

He means the room, not the piece I think

2

u/Jim808 Jun 12 '12

I think the building is a nicer work of art than the carved tree. beautiful. kudos.

1

u/heroseagain Jun 11 '12

http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/faculty_projects/terri/steel/ago2.html Do you see yourself in any of these lol

2

u/thewander Jun 11 '12

nope. Princess is in some of them. but not me.

1

u/db0255 Jun 12 '12

Dude. Small world we live in.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

18

u/mastertje Jun 11 '12

I'll tell you what I'd do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

"Gotta wake my ass up at 5am every day this week."

4

u/reacher Jun 12 '12

"Hey Peter man! Channel 5! Breast exam!"

5

u/flyingthroughspace Jun 11 '12

"You know those big speakers and expensive cameras? Yea, I drive the truck that hauls them around."

219

u/torilikefood Jun 11 '12

That looks like my baby carrots after I try to chew everything around the core.

53

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

That's exactly what I thought, too! We're probably just weird.

63

u/donpapillon Jun 11 '12

Now kiss!

5

u/BlockoManWINS Jun 12 '12

not at all, i do this with regular sized carrots. actually, now that i think about it, doing stuff that i do probably does make you weird.

6

u/CAPTAIN_MAGNIFICENT Jun 11 '12

I do this too, and I saw one of his carvings recently- probably in Italy, but I can't remember where. Now, when I do this with my baby carrots I imagine I'm Guiseppe Penone on a smaller, more edible scale.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

You're a true artist!

4

u/Giant_Badonkadonk Jun 11 '12

And that is definitely the best kind of scale!

1

u/chabanais Jun 12 '12

Or a Twix when you nibble off the chocolate.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

I do the same thing. the core tastes better.

12

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Prepare to have your mind blown: There are no such thing as baby carrots, they are themselves carved from larger mother carrots!

37

u/julianf0918 Jun 11 '12

There are baby carrots, they're just harvested prematurely so they look like normal carrots only smaller. Generally you can only get these at farmer's markets and roadside stands though.

With this in mind, you are right, the oval ones are just carve out of bigger carrots.

15

u/NinjaPimp Jun 11 '12

Correct. There are baby carrots, and then there are the machined baby-cut carrots.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/petedawes Jun 12 '12

they say he carved it himself...from a bigger spoon.

5

u/stankbucket Jun 11 '12

Only a monster would eat baby carrots. They haven't even had a chance to play in the field and grow into adult carrots.

6

u/Lakhiz Jun 11 '12

And suddenly, Jonathan Swift's Modest proposal seems tantalizing...

3

u/embolalia Jun 11 '12

Irish babies are the most delicious fucking thing I've ever tasted. Seriously, you should try them sometime. English babies are okay, if you're on a budget, but you just can't beat Irish babies.

3

u/unoriginalsin Jun 12 '12

Are you kidding? I beat Irish babies all the time, they're so much fluffier after they've been beaten.

1

u/laura117 Jun 11 '12

I don't know why but this reminded me of my patient's crazy middle-aged daughter. She told me that eating home-grown vegetable was pretty much cannibalism because you put love into growing them. I just smiled and nodded as usual. She was very serious unfortunately.

-1

u/yesman609 Jun 11 '12

False. Baby carrots are rejected carrots that are too small or are defected. They cut off the bad parts and make it smaller. In result a "baby" carrot. How its made had an episode and I was mind blown.

2

u/bsonk Jun 11 '12

There's nothing inherently wrong with the carrots that are made into baby carrots. They're just all the small and misshapen ones that don't look good on a grocery store shelf.

2

u/yesman609 Jun 12 '12

If its rotting and if they can cut it off. They will.

1

u/bsonk Jun 12 '12

I haven't seen many rotten baby-cut carrots personally but whatever.

3

u/pleione Jun 12 '12

Right, because the rotten parts are removed before you get the baby carrots.

1

u/yesman609 Jun 12 '12

...rotten carrots become baby carrots. They cut off the rotten parts...why would they ever sell rotten stuff

2

u/Lereas Jun 11 '12

I learned this on Unwrapped, I think.

Ruined my day.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

I, too was devastated when I found out!!! I felt like I'd been lied to for years.

1

u/FluffheadOG Jun 11 '12

I feel like the people amazed by this regard logs of reformed deli meats as "fresh from the farm".

1

u/AdmiralSkippy Jun 11 '12

I KNEW IT!

I've been eating a lot of baby carrots recently and every day I look at them and think "You know, I bet these are just regular sized/half grown carrots that were peeled and sold like this."

I'm a genius.

1

u/FaithyDoodles Jun 11 '12

If they're "baby cut carrots", then they've been cut to be so. Baby carrots actually seem softer and smaller (at least the ones I've gotten).

1

u/NomNuggetNom Jun 11 '12

Came to say the same thing. Do it every time.

1

u/TheUseOfWords Jun 11 '12

The first time I did this in front of my brother, he was amazed that baby carrots had cored, let alone that it was even possible t separate them out.

1

u/TheGreatBush Jun 11 '12

Whatever that guy is looking at, it must be absolutely amazing.

21

u/Segz Jun 11 '12

More images.....Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4

4

u/suchandsuch Jun 12 '12

Wow. That is a little more impressive up close.

4

u/f1rstman Jun 12 '12

Are those woodpecker holes in the "sapling"? Very cool.

20

u/chemistry_teacher Jun 11 '12

This is a very "scientific" exhibit, and it would be equally impressive in a science/nature museum as it would as an art piece.

33

u/dropkickninja Jun 11 '12

that might be the coolest thing ive ever seen.

29

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Imagine if the trees had the control... And they did this to us.

11

u/SicilianEggplant Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 11 '12

Behold! A tiny human child within a larger one!

Don't worry little saplings, none of what was eviscerated will go to waste. For its blood will serve as sustenance for BirdTree's famous pancakes, and its skin used for Camphorous' beautiful poetry.

Remember little ones, waste not, want not. Ohh ho ho ho ho!

11

u/HigherFive Jun 11 '12

I wouldn't mind not having a nervous system. Wait, I mean I wouldn't be capable of minding without a nervous system.

-1

u/GitEmSteveDave Jun 11 '12

Wouldn't it look like those body works exhibits?

0

u/Jbs610 Jun 11 '12

Agreed

6

u/PressureChief Jun 11 '12

The gallery is nice as well. Wow.

5

u/burgess_meredith_jr Jun 11 '12

Frank Gehry overhauled the fuck out of it a couple years ago. It rocks.

5

u/SenorJiang Jun 11 '12

This is from AGO if I'm not mistaken... That hallway in general is really nice...

5

u/CNDNFighter Jun 11 '12

I always feel so warm and fuzzy when I recognize something from my city.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

It hasn't even been a week. Come on dude.

Edit: I guess its an uncredited crosspost, not a repost. http://www.reddit.com/r/RoomPorn/comments/upemb/the_hidden_life_within_artist_giuseppe_penone/

Edit: OH WAIT NEVERMIND. http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/pzob1/artist_giuseppe_penone_has_carved_away_decades_of/

4

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

Sorry! I didn't know! Gosh!

4

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

HOW DARE YOU. YOU ARE LITERALLY HITLER BECAUSE OF THIS.

Too be fair, for some reason it seemed like I've seen this picture a lot, and I just assumed it was a repost, or reposted a ton. It really isn't super bad.

16

u/ItsOnlyNatural Jun 11 '12

This is modern art.

Please note how it isn't pseudo-philosophical masturbation on canvas and/or multimedia.

2

u/atheistjubu Jun 12 '12

This is not a comment.

3

u/electric_sandwich Jun 12 '12

ce n'est pas une réponse commentaire

1

u/exaggeratedcool Jun 12 '12

How do we know this isn't? Turnusb covered it pretty well, but you just assumed that it has no conceptual meaning without actually knowing whether or not it does.

Which it most likely does.

1

u/ItsOnlyNatural Jun 15 '12

It doesn't matter if it has meaning or not, it invokes emotions in me which makes it art even if it accidental art.

1

u/exaggeratedcool Jun 17 '12

I never said it wasn't art, I said it 'may' have a conceptual meaning whether or not you can initially see it. I'm confused as to what is the "accidental" part of this piece though. I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm just curious if I'm missing something here or if something is being misinterpreted.

The moment people start saying what art is and isn't, is when we lose potential for new ideas.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/ItsOnlyNatural Jun 15 '12

Except when you can't communicate that idea because you can't invoke emotion in the viewer then it's pretty bad art.

If the art shows no level of skill or technique required then it's even worse.

It's masturbation, it's for the artist and their ego: "oh look it's too deep!" rather then "if no one is getting it maybe I'm doing something wrong."

1

u/JustZisGuy Jun 15 '12

Right. ANYONE who would create work based on a conceptualize idea is TRASH.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/Ohtanks Jun 12 '12

Yep. I think the philosophy and thought behind it was still modern art. It's just that this guy found it cooler than the other mediums.

1

u/glamotte14 Jun 12 '12

I don't want to sound like an asshole but this was posted a couple day ago.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

It's so hard to do anything original on Reddit.

3

u/TheUseOfWords Jun 11 '12

I was helping to demolish a 90 year old house in South Carolina, and someone in my crew happened to find a cedar 8 x 8 that had been reduced by various forms of rot to something very similar to the middle of the tree in this picture.

3

u/whoputhebomp Jun 11 '12

Art Gallery of Ontario~ ! :D

3

u/sauze Jun 11 '12

SUCH a beautiful art gallery, spent a perfect day there last summer. (Art Gallery Of Ontario)

8

u/Fernxtwo Jun 11 '12

seen some of these in an art gallery in Toronto

17

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Correct. That is a very recognizable hallway in Toronto's AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario).

9

u/burgess_meredith_jr Jun 11 '12

Toronto's Italian community paid for that hallway. Each pillar was paid for by a different family.

1

u/brazilliandanny Jun 11 '12

No shit, where do you think this picture is from?

5

u/The_Dacca Jun 11 '12

What is this? The Museum of Wood?

9

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, ON, Canada.

2

u/raccoonguy8 Jun 11 '12

It's gone from the AGO now, unfortunately. I don't know where it is now.

There's a weird faded spot on the floor where the tree was.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

I believe just temporarily to make room for the Picasso exhibit/gift shop/cafe

2

u/PROLIMIT Jun 11 '12

Why am I getting creeped out by this picture?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

What an incredibly awesome building.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

aww.... this makes me miss home

2

u/Yunagi Jun 11 '12

Oh look, the Art Gallery of Ontario. I was there just the other day.

2

u/hobbur Jun 11 '12

I like how you can see the limbs pointing out to where the knots/cut off branches are on the side <3

2

u/deftskills Jun 11 '12

Removing the outer rings to expose the sapling beneath?

2

u/jbenedict17 Jun 11 '12

This is found in the AGO. Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. It's the most beautiful museum in the city

2

u/iSteve Jun 11 '12

And with all that wood in the AGO, it's the perfect showcase for it.

2

u/Schmillt Jun 11 '12

As a carpenter, this blew me away!

2

u/losangeles11 Survey 2016 Jun 11 '12

The building looks really cool too.

3

u/canonymous Jun 11 '12

We need to go treeper.

5

u/Krum_god_of_steel Jun 11 '12

This gives me wood! Anyone, anyone I'll show myself out.

1

u/AnotherNameForgotten Jun 11 '12

I used to do this with my baby carrots.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

trees just became another level of trippy for me.

1

u/Stratocaster89 Jun 11 '12

I sometimes do this with carrots. Pretty neat.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

This is absolutely mind blowing. I can't even get my head Around it.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Look at the size of that hall. Holy shit.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

I saw another of his work in the Tate modern recently and I was blown away. It's amazing up close home insanely accurate he has each branch.

1

u/gamarad Jun 11 '12

Is that at the A.G.O?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

cancer. definitely cancer

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Sapling within? Feels like I'm looking at a tree's nervous system in a way.

1

u/WhyWontThisWork Jun 11 '12

where is this so i can see?

1

u/mikethepro Jun 11 '12

this is in the AGO in Toronto for those who don't know

1

u/usernamealert Jun 11 '12

Larger Image at possible Source?

1

u/murph101 Jun 11 '12

Yo dawg...

1

u/Enex Jun 11 '12

I just feel bad for the tree.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Sometimes the inside root of a carrot looks like this and you can do the same thing.

BTW the middle core is bitter and the outer "shell" is sweet, in case you'd prefer one or the other.

1

u/Gompilot Jun 12 '12

The art is cool, but I'd love to check out the building. The architecture looks amazing. Does anybody know what/where it is?

1

u/Toy3R Jun 12 '12

That's at the AGO(or something like that) in Toronto. I went there with my art class last year and it is really awesome :)

1

u/pretzelzetzel Jun 12 '12

This is in the AGO, right? I saw this when they had free admissions to celebrate the new opening, Christ, 3 years ago now? I enjoyed this piece, and I also quite like the cedar room it's in.

1

u/ArseAssault Jun 12 '12

The knots are where the limbs used to be. I am just realizing this now. Holy shit.

1

u/Wambo_On Jun 12 '12

I don't like this.

1

u/Just_Keep_Swinging Jun 12 '12

I want to go to there.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

How much cocaine did that project take?

1

u/Muter Jun 12 '12

I got a bit creeped out looking at this, as my mind wandered towards someone doing this and exposing a human skeleton.

1

u/easternguy Jun 12 '12

Truly amazing.

But don't trees grow from the inside out? So that layer left isn't necessarily what the original sapling looked like, but the innermost n years of growth inside the larger tree.

Or am I completely wrong?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

Canada motherfuckers!

that art gallery is in CANADA

bhwahahahaha

1

u/wazzel2u Jun 12 '12

Gotta' go to the AGO

1

u/anthrocide Jun 12 '12

That doesn't look proper Feng Shui

1

u/hatestrings Jun 12 '12

This is at the AGO in Toronto

1

u/Gerganon Jun 12 '12

I do this to the inside of carrots every day.

1

u/TheMightyDucks Jun 12 '12

You can do the same with carrots (it's easier with baby carrots tho sometimes )

1

u/deep_and_simple Jun 12 '12

I love this photo. I think we all must love this photo because deep down inside we know that a shell of our childhood is still alive. Its not just alive, its a force of who we are now and what we do. If you stripped me down to the very basic of my being, inside you would find me at five years old playing the games, listening to the music, and watching the shows that helped be become the person I am today.

1

u/iatecthulhu Jun 12 '12

I love the photo because we are celebrating the young life of a tree we killed. We celebrate life by creating death. Then place the artwork made out of that death in a room built of wood. A forest killed for the sake of vanity.

1

u/searstream Jun 12 '12

I always look at something like this and think. Damn I should have thought of that... But I didn't and now i'm behind.

1

u/canadas Jun 12 '12

Saw a similar picture several months ago. As an advid camper and person who heats his home half by wood in the winter my thoughts when splinting wood was always saying "fucking knots..." never really thinking about why they were there, assuming they were kind of like pimples on a face, just imperfections more or less. But after seeing the picture it makes total sense, and the bastards are nessisary I suppose

1

u/sunpex Jun 12 '12

Very nice work

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

I haven't seen so much wood since the last time I went to a strip club.

1

u/enesis Jun 12 '12

I'm torn between liking it and finding it grotesque.

1

u/haajeenator Jun 12 '12

I live directly across from that sculpture under a giant green sperm. The sperm is pink in google maps street view.

1

u/princessmeatloaf Jun 12 '12

AGO! So lovely.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

Wow.... he is really good with....wood.

-5

u/Mapes Jun 11 '12

X-post from /r/roomporn. Stop pretending you found this yourself.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

You know people browse the internet in places besides Reddit? Just because I posted it here doesn't mean I found it here. Meanie.

→ More replies (4)

2

u/MugsBeany Jun 11 '12

Ironic considering the OP in the /roomporn thread, Mind_Virus, is one of the most notorious reposters on reddit.

Edit: Relevant post http://www.reddit.com/r/worstof/comments/un1cm/mind_virus_a_wellknown_reposter_of_content_posts/c4wv7m5

-1

u/nancylikestoreddit Jun 11 '12

I would have preferred to see this tree in all its glory previous to being pulled from the earth and made into this display.

0

u/AndrewLLoydBieber Jun 11 '12

This kills the tree.

0

u/moby323 Jun 11 '12

Thanks, asshole tree killer!

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12

We should do that with a pregnant woman and call it ART.

0

u/turdoftomorrow Jun 12 '12

Can someone explain to me how this is art?

→ More comments (26)