Kim Lieberman
OLIVE TREE
Size Framed: 750 x 570mm
Medium: Oil paint, dry gold pigment, digital print and pencil on Fabriano paper
In this artwork, the artist shows an olive tree outside the old city walls in Jerusalem, with the age of the tree portrayed by its size and its presence. One can only begin to imagine the people who have walked past this tree over the centuries, the events that have happened, but yet it remains planted to the ground. This tree has witnessed a multitude of political, religious, cultural and emotional transient events. The tangent circles allude to aspects that relate to each other or ‘touch’ but don’t form a circle. This echoes the dynamics at play in Israel, where events and things have sides and impact on each other, but are not unified. This work reflects on Lieberman’s other works that include the concept of ‘trees in important places’ – this tree is in an important place that is centrifugal in the world.