"Tree Portrait" and "Stone Portrait"

Jinmo Kang, 2009
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    At the other end of the plaza, two works by Jinmo Kang flank the entrance to Fürstenberg Park. Tree Portrait and Stone Portrait were created especially for this site to mark the opening of the museum in 2009 and remain an integral part of the architectural ensemble to this day.

    Kang planted a cherry tree and placed a large boulder next to it. Using steel tubes of different thicknesses, he recreated the intricate ramification of the young tree and the outline of the massive rock as an airy, three-dimensional ‘portrait drawing’. For Jinmo Kang, tree and stone are individuals to whom he pays his respect, as he would to a human being. Man sees himself as the master of nature, Kang once said in an interview. However, nothing man can make can equal the perfection and beauty nature is capable of. The two portraits and their models are installed on the path towards the park – not as stumbling blocks, but as thought-provoking minor obstructions that reflect the relationship between man and nature, body and spirit, growth and transience, abundance and emptiness.

Jinmo Kang, "Tree Portrait" and "Stone Portrait", 2009