This was a new approach to a project that I had been thinking about doing with our Christmas trees for quite some time.
Every year my wife, Maro, likes to get a fresh Christmas tree to
celebrate the season and though we have tried to get them in pots, to
plant later, we never could find anyone selling them that way -at least
for a reasonable price. She likes real trees and not artificial
ones, we live in a wooded area, in fact our back yard is on fire as we
speak (Tujunga/ Sunland fire about 1/4 mile away} Anyway, every year we
get a new tree. I couldn't help noticing how people dumped their trees
after the season was over and I just felt
there was something disturbing about the way they were discarded. So I
started keeping our old trees. I have a collection since we moved into
our house since 2001. I had always planned on photographing them and
this exhibit offered the opportunity. I love
shooting in 3-D so I shot each tree with a standard 2 1/4 format as
well as a stereo version. Since it was fresh work, I wanted to see what
the best presentation would be for it and I brought everything to James
Sweeters at the CSUN gallery to curate. I included actual
trees with the work. I think Jim loves a challenge and he came up with a
great solution to create a story about my trees. There is something to
having the actual subject in the room as opposed to just a picture of
it.
On another level, the Christmas Trees project reflects on a changed
America, a place where telling people to have a "Merry Christmas" may
not be politically correct. As a tradition, the decorated tree came about in Great
Britian from Germany in the
18th and 19th centuries. The "Christmas" tree isn't really a religious
symbol, just a beloved custom to celebrate a season. So let's call it as it is: a "Holiday" tree.
My "Holiday" Trees, by Levon Parian 2017
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My "Holiday" Trees 2001- 2016, Levon Parian |
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2016, Levon Parian |
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2015, Levon Parian |
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2014, Levon Parian |
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2010, Levon Parian |
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2001, Levon Parian |
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Arthur with 2010, Levon Parian 2017 |
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Link to article in CSUN Sundial September, 2017:
http://sundial.csun.edu/2017/09/csuns-department-of-art-faculty-and-staff-showcase-their-work/