Tree

This bright red, three-dimensional cut-out tree stands five metres in height and is nestled in the Mt Albert Community Centre grounds at the back of Rocket Park. The work playfully reflects the forms and shapes found in the surrounding natural environment, even though it is made of steel.

This work is one of three artworks commissioned for the Mt Albert Recreation Precinct in 2003, along with Harakeke Balustrade and Scoria wall.

Artist Caroline Rothwell borrows from the original natural environment by depicting flax, scoria rocks and a tree and constructs them in a contemporary urban material – stainless steel.

"At once almost childlike in form but also monumental – and to a degree abstract through the process of reflecting shapes – Tree becomes a playful rupture in the landscape, which asks the public to take another look at the ordinary objects around them," says Rothwell.