Multiple Art Trees

The mind is not a camera. And the still life trees created in large-format by British artist Noel Myles do not capture moments or, at least, should not be seen to. While they consist of a large number of smaller photographs, these photographs are brought together to create one overall image Myles, who actually trained as an illustrator and painter, creates his collages using classic analogue photography, but contrasts the traditional single perspective of a photograph with the multiple perspectives created by the collage. What we see is a tree, a tree comprised of multiple close-ups, taken over a number of seasons. Individual details are photographed from below, from the side, from up close, and from a distance. This technique allows Myles to revolutionise the fleeting moment of perception captured by classical photography into a more comprehensive impression of time and space. The result is that we, the observer, are forced ask ourselves certain questions. What is nature? What does a tree really mean to us? It is not just a structure that has grown organically, in which every detail stands in relation to the whole, but also an experience of the senses. Just like Myles’s images themselves. The difference is that he uses only photography – a medium of instant impressions – to create this immersion of the senses.

Stephan Reisner