Jim Wheeler

Epiphyte

2006

stainless steel

Jim Wheeler has been working as a sculptor in New Zealand since 1981 when he emigrated from the United States of America. A passionate botanist and conservationist, he has closely studied the native flora of New Zealand, which has become integral to his work.

In 2000 Wheeler began a series of large works that examine the intricate details of native plants. First inspired by a mighty Kauri tree he encountered at Terry Stringer’s sculpture park Zealandia, Wheeler created Regeneration, a giant branch made of cast iron and bronze, that lies at rest on the ground. The rusted iron is the very colour of dead Kauri foliage while the green patina of the bronze cone suggests the life of future generations of trees contained within. Similarily, his bronze Exotic Native: Self Portrait (2005), designed to be installed in the branches of a tree, examines in exquisite detail the Rewarewa seed pods.

Epiphyte, created for Brick Bay, pays homage to a particularly delicate species of epiphyte, Usnea capillacea, that Wheeler encountered on his first walk along the proposed sculpture trail. He makes reference to the sacred and sometimes magical qualities that have been ascribed to such plants since ancient times, and which relate to their habitation of a space that hovers between the earth and sky. Living outside usual parameters, these plants were often thought to possess extraordinary powers of healing, or contain magical properties. Remarkable even by scientific standards, these plants have little or no impact on their host plant. Using the host simply as support, their light feathery tendrils absorb all the nutrients and moisture they need directly from the air.

Made of stainless steel, meticulously cut with the ends filed blunt and welded together, Epiphyte is deliberately out-of-scale and designed to celebrate and draw attention to this delicate and often unnoticed or overlooked plant. The sculpture hangs four metres from the bower of a canopy tree and is part of an ongoing series by Wheeler examining native trees and plants, celebrating, paying homage, and urging the viewer to look closer.

Kate Darrow

*Artist’s statement Brick Bay 2006