When Trees Dream,
recent work by Brian Pardini

Annex Gallery
May 5, 2008 – July 5, 2008

Opening reception will be held on Friday, May 16 from 6–9 p.m.

Looking back, it strikes him as a particularly appropriate idea, a way to unify several different parts of his life. “This work is very holistic for me. It’s very physical work, walking, carrying, dragging....” It also provides an arena for Pardini to explore another of his interests, indigenous people. He has spent a lot of time thinking about the Eriez Indians, the original inhabitants of Lake Erie’s shores, trying to imagine what their lives must have been like, as they traveled the same paths he does today.

Pardini’s driftwood sculptures seem invested with life. Weathered roots and branches lift their arms and dance. There is a sense of elegance, vitality, and personality evident in all his works, and the mood runs the gamut from somber to whimsical. Perhaps all this life and movement is not so much created as discovered, an idea Pardini encourages, admitting he sees upraised arms in every tree. He modifies the wood in various ways and to various degrees, often only very slightly.

The sculptures are meant to evoke humanity’s ancient past, a time when the business of daily life was inseparable from contact with nature. As Pardini explains, people have been doing what he does, collecting and treasuring natural objects that seem to hold special significance, for as long as there have been people. Nomads carry these special objects with them, while sedentary peoples create special areas in which to keep them. The Annex Gallery will be transformed into a sort of mysterious grotto, with a separate “sanctuary” housing the pieces he considers more somber and serious in nature.

“What drives me with this work is the feeling of doing something ancient.” For Pardini, his work not only connects his various interests, but also creates connections between him and the indigenous peoples he finds so interesting, connections to an older way of life and the ancient history of humanity, connections to a spirituality that is left out of our modern conception of the material world. His objects function as pathways leading from material to spirit, and guide us back to our ancient roots.