The most important factor, which made me involved with this project, is the world's illegal logging and deforestation, which is responsible for the cutting of 3 to 6 billion trees per year, and the destruction of immense areas of forests all around the world. In Greece the situation is the same worrying because, due to the financial crisis, the price of the oil has increased, and as it is the main heat solution for the households, many people are now unable to afford heating oil, instead turning to wood to heat their homes.  Consequently the big demand in wood has led to an unprecedented illegal logging in the country, and at my village the situation seems to be the same disappointing, having as a result, the alter of the residential, and natural landscape of the area.

 

Trees are the columns which support and hold the biosphere in a stable and balanced condition. In every tree, thousands of creatures find habitat, and communities of them shape unique forests and ecosystems full of life and wonder. Trees are keystone species which play a central and critical role in maintenance of community structure and ecosystem functioning. If an ecosystem can be returned to a state in which the keystone species flourish, then all the other species, which depend on them, will also flourish. Keystone species play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem and regulating the biodiversity.

 

My interactions with trees, and my sorrow about the loss of whole forests worldwide, led me to paint several tree portraits. I depicted them just the moment before their death, just some seconds before the chainsaw throw them down to the ground. The way I painted them has turbulence and anger. The brushstroke is rough and violent. I used black vinyl paint on cardboard, and my intention was to dramatize the moment of their oncoming death. From now on, in order to symbolize the main reasons of this unprecedented tree genocide that takes place on Earth. I choose to nickname the black vinyl paint as “Oil”, and “Burned palm oil”.

 

 

Panagiotis Brentas 2013