Parasolstice Winter Light 2015 – Charles Avery

Parasol unit is delighted to present a newly commissioned work by Scottish artist Charles Avery as its Parasolstice – Winter Light 2015 project. Charles Avery’s Tree No. 5 (from the Jadindagadendar) is the latest addition to the ongoing Winter Light series, for which Parasol unit invites a contemporary artist to create an installation that addresses the phenomenon of light.

In 2004, Charles Avery embarked upon his evolving lifelong project, The Islanders, which describes in meticulous detail the inhabitants, flora and fauna of an imaginary island. In a constantly growing body of work (including drawing, sculpture and film), Avery explores and records in precise detail the customs, myths, religions and rituals of The Islanders. Four years into the process, in 2008, Avery was offered a solo exhibition at Parasol unit, which toured to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, and to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Tree No. 5 (from the Jadindagadendar) is a new and single work, jointly commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival and Parasol unit, London.

Towering five metres tall and cast in bronze, Charles Avery’s Tree No. 5 (from the Jadindagadendar) will illuminate the outdoor terrace at Parasol unit from 15 October – 6 December 2015. Drawing inspiration for its design from mathematics (such as the square root of 2 and the Fibonacci sequence) Avery’s tree, ripe with fluorescent fruit hanging from its bronze branches, is from the Jadindagadendar, a municipal park in the town of Onomatopoeia at the heart of the artist’s fictional island. The park is filled, not with living botanical specimens but with artificial trees, flowers and shrubs, which express the Islanders’ refutation of nature. Avery considers these artificial objects to be souvenirs brought to our world by a visitor to the Island.

The sculpture, Tree No. 5 (from the Jadindagadendar), was first unveiled on 30 July 2015 at Waverley Station, Edinburgh, as part of Parasol Public and the commission project, The Improbable City, Edinburgh Art Festival.

Tree No. 5 (from the Jadindagadendar), 2015, is jointly commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival and Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art.