Iphoneography Art on Wood

Because the hot, summer months are upon us in the UAE at the moment - this week’s forecast for Abu Dhabi read, “High temperatures and sticky weather are expected to remain in the coming days, with the mercury rising above 40°C” - indoor activities have been the order of the day in the last while. 

It has been an opportunity for me to work on and publish my new website, LindART, which showcases my iphoneography art.  With the website up and running, and many of my pieces on canvas now hanging in my home gallery, I have also been considering and investigating new media to have the images printed onto. 

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Munich. The first thing I set out to do was go for a long walk. Without a specific destination in mind, I started off along the Isar River, got lost twice, but had a wonderful day. 

At one point on my walk I suddenly entered the Englischer Garten. Larger than New York’s central park it is one of the world’s largest urban public parks. 

The high, green trees and the open fields were striking.  Feeling the need to reconnect with nature in a special way, at one point I stopped and mindfully touched a tree. 

I passed many cyclists, walked through bicycle tunnels with wonderful graffiti, strolled next to ponds with ducks, and watched people walking their dogs. 

The next morning, I set out to visit the studio of Malte Dinkela. I had read that he is able to print on various media and was eager to see this. 

Malte is also an artist and his welcoming nature and professional attitude at all times, made it a pleasure to be there.  I was immediately drawn to his wood printing and without any ado he set about printing some of my work for me to see. The results were astonishing.

Malte used reclaimed shuttering which is at least 20 years old. As he reached for  the piece of wood which before had been used as a temporary structure to contain setting concrete, I looked at it and realized that it must hold many stories. 

As Malte began to prepare the pieces we would use, I wondered about the wood. Who had held it? Which building sites had it visited? Did the walls it had contained still stand?  Who inhabited the walls it had helped to build? Where had it been stored? Which little beetles or ants had crawled inside it? 

The work created on my iphone was about to be presented on wood, and this in some way connected different cultures, times and places in a unique fashion. As each piece of wood is different, the resulting works were unique. The grains and texture added a dimension to the pieces we were working on that had not been there before.

  

I thought back to the tree I had touched the previous day. The wood in the stems and roots of a living tree perform a support function by nature. Trees are rooted but at the same time contain much movement.  Their roots draw water, nutrients are sent throughout the system, foliage appears and disappears and fruit can be produced.  

Rootedness and movement - one of the main themes in my art! I am happy to have chosen wood as a medium and look forward to seeing more of my work presented in this way. 

Malte has posted a lovely article about my work on his website and I look forward to working with him in the future.