Trunks, branches, twigs are the subjects of American artist Chris Elliot world. The eponymous tree is seen in monochromatic tones, in colour, in steel casting shadows over the branches and the background. Design element is particularly strong in his works, especially in the steel sculptures where the repetitive form of undulating trunk
and branches creates patterned symmetries. It is the juxtaposition of these rhythmic forms and the shadows cast by the sculptures per se that lends a dramatic aura to the works.
Elliot has also depicted some branches with trees in which he has also used colour, but these are neither as effective nor as dramatic as the inky, dense silhouettes and subtle monochromatic works. All his acrylic on canvas works have a textured feel created by delicate and controlled use of line on fine surface.
It is not clear if the tree in his paintings is a generic tree or the same tree depicted over time or indeed different trees, each representing a separate idea or an ideal as in ancient India. Trees have occupied a significant space in Indian visual and philosophical tradition, whether it is the Kalpavriksha, the ever giving tree, or the Bodhi tree that epitomises enlightenment, or the plaksha tree that invites young maiden to amorous fecund play, or the udumbura’s totemistic symbolism and so on.
Trees in India are associated with fertility and auspiciousness. The leaves garland homes, and along with the pot of plenty represent the universal waters and the created world. But the majority of trees in Chris Elliot’s works are denuded of foliage, leaving only stark branches and trunk. This bareness with just the branches reaching up like fingers, smooth and gnarled, casting shadows on each other, swaying in the wind, or twisted and bent under the force of a gale, make powerful visuals. The stripping of the tree is symbolic of denudation of civilisation, of the environment, of the self itself.
— Dr Seema Bawa is an art historian, curator and critic