Odds and quads

In 2010, sculptor Tom Harvey created this work from the remains of a 250-year-old cedar tree - the oldest on the campus of The Open University - which had fallen victim to an infestation of the small cedar aphid.

January 5, 2012




Contemplation shows a young man, possibly a student, sitting on a log and gazing up towards the branches in search of inspiration. Designed to depict learning, it stands prominently in the middle of a grassy crossroads and has become a popular talking point.

Harvey specialises in large-scale sculptures in wood, which he carves directly without a preliminary scale model, using a chainsaw as his main tool.

This enables him to produce free-flowing works in a relatively short space of time. But he also relies on other power and hand tools to create smooth surfaces and areas of greater definition, such as the fox that appears on the other side of this sculpture.

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