Deep Roots - CODAworx

Deep Roots

Submitted by Christopher Owen Nelson

Client: Corporate Client

Location: Houston, TX, United States

Completion date: 2016

Artwork budget: $200,000

Project Team

Artist

Christopher Owen Nelson

Chris Nelson Fine Art

Other

Sam Carlson, intern/protégé

Chris Nelson Fine Art

Overview

This wall installation, Deep Roots, is installed in a corporate client's office. It is made of many carved and painted cast acrylic panels. It's 19' x 17'x 3″ and it completely transforms this office lobby.

Goals

Through my work I explore my personal relationship with a variety of subjects that I have developed an important bond with. I spend a majority of my time outdoors, particularly in areas where I like to fish and walk my dogs. I am never in a hurry when I am there, and my mind always wanders far away. The environment
puts me in a state of meditation, which for me is normal. Now suddenly I am beginning to notice life. I am awake. I am listening. Absorbing information from the water and trees in such a way that it makes me feel connected and attached. My growing familiarity with every minute detail challenges me to appreciate these sanctuaries as relatives, rather than places I simply walk through or drive past. For
instance, I try to address the spiritual and emotional impact that a particular tree has had on me by trying to understand it’s life, and by studying it’s characteristics and changes throughout the seasons, all the time asking myself, “How are we are connected?” My goal is to continuously analyze this connectivity in an attempt to convey the possibilities that lie within the nurturing of a human’s relationship with his surroundings.

Process

I am the artist, designer and installer. I have assistance from my intern/protégé, Sam Carlson.