I made this piece, “Forest through the Trees” as a wedding present for my dearest friends Meghan and Matthew Hopkins who were married in September of 2018.
The central two trees “holding hands” symbolizes longevity and strength, and the stark black horizontal lines which represent power lines symbolize open channels of communication. All things I wish for their marriage. Things that in combination maintain a happy and healthy relationship. In addition to the acrylic paints I used, this piece is also constructed of torn fragments of both their wedding invitation and save-the-date envelope.
The idea for the painting actually came from a good memory I have of a road trip we took with Meghan and her sister to their hometown in Wisconsin to spend Thanksgiving with their parents and extended family. The nearly fourteen hour drive from NYC was a wonderful adventure, and actually my first ever road trip in America. The fall foliage and power lines that ran along the sides of the highways stand out in my memory of that trip, as seen from the passenger seat of our car, while listening to Daft Punk’s then released “Random Access Memories,” the soundtrack of that whole trip, and again featured at their wedding reception. Another memory I like to access randomly 🙂
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and as much as they do. It now lives in their living room here in NYC, featured prominently above a lush Philodendron we purchased together at a plant and garden fair in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
