When Edward Scissorhands met Henry Moore
Making a statement with topiary! |
I pass by this house every month on the way to visit a client and simply marvel at the artist's vision/chutzpah. What's going through his mind as he clips away, transforming a fugly and ancient siberian elm hedge into...well, its hard to describe.
Free-form? Post-modern? Conceptual?
Would a wall of boxwood trimmed compulsively elicit anything close a response? Unlikely.
You bump into people like this everyday. Outwardly seemingly normal but given some sharp hedge clippers and a lot of time, fantastic ideas and forms spring forward. Perhaps not the words this guy's neighbour uses but anyway...Concave or convex? Depends on where you're standing |
How can a shrub trigger a memory? When I first saw this:
It takes a steady hand... |
I was reminded of Henry Moore's commissioned work installed in 1966 in Toronto's new city hall. Officially, it's called "Three-Way Piece No. 2" but most people know it as "the Archer" located in Nathan Phillips Square. I remember playing in and around the structure as a very small and young child, the metal hot to the touch with the sunlight drenching the square.
Funny how this association occurred....
By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog"Google Google Find us on Google+ Find us on Google+