Homage To Hendrik Van Rheede—Tree Of Needs
Artist – Arunkumar HG
Homage to Hendrick Van Rheede- Tree of Needs is an important evolution of the artist’s early artwork on the subject, which was about early hand-drawn documentation of the rich biodiversity of the Western Ghats in 17th Century in the form of drawings and text in multiple languages, by the then Dutch authority Hendrik Van Rheede, of relevance even today. Homage to Hendrick Van Rheede Tree of Needs is about a tree or a forest losing its natural upward growth in fulfilling the rapidly growing needs of the human race.
The material-wood plays a significant role as it is picked up from an industrial scrapyard, mostly used in shipping goods across the globe. In this present context, the wood loses its ecological significance and remains as crate wood, a symbol of rampant consumerism consuming even the tree from which it came..