UK-based artist Rob Mulholland is known for his eerie forest sculptures that appear invisible, except for the way they reflect the area around them. Made of mirrored material, like acrylic glass, they blend into the background so well that, at first glance, you might not even notice that they’re standing right next to you.
In the first of a new series of art interventions for 2013, Mulholland just wrote to tell us about “Levitate – Forest Felled,” a mysteriously hanging figure that seems like it’s magically floating in mid-air. To achieve this mind-boggling effect, Mulholland decided against using software like Photoshop and instead chose more traditional means. He used stainless steel wire, which is almost invisible to the eye, to hang this stainless steel sculpture. This gives off the illusion that this mysterious figure, with its arms outstretched, is levitating.
As always, Mulholland’s choice of location is an integral part of his work. In this installation, he is interested in showing the effects of harvesting, transforming a once dense forest into a flat field filled with tree limbs and stumps. While felling, or cutting down and removing trees to get timber, seems unnatural or cruel, there’s actually a positive effect. it’s a way to to renew, improve, and increase the productivity of a forest.
As the artist explains, “The transition stage before new growth emerges and covers over the bare tree stumps can last for several years. It’s tempting to look at this as a destructive force, but in many ways it replicates nature’s own cycle of growth and re-birth as within a few years the same area becomes anew with young samplings and wild plants that would struggle to grow in the once dense woodland.”
Currently, you can find this sculpture in a location near Stirling, Scotland. Soon you’ll be able to spot more, but only for a limited time. “I’m planning to do quite a few interventions that are quite temporary,” Mulholland tells us. “They’ll be pop-up installations on location for just a few days. This allows me more freedom to experiment with my artwork.”
