Ryan Anthony
Burns

Ryan Burns (1974 - ) is an artist, environmentalist and activist who attended the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana in the 1990s and now lives in Portland, Oregon. Through his research of urban and natural locations, Ryan Burns presents to us an epic story told by trees that are many times older than any living human being on planet Earth. His Dendrochronology frottages spotlight the natural recording of climate, and investigates society’s relationship with the environment at large.

For the artist, each artwork documents the life and death of a tree, sometimes spanning more than 500 years. Each artwork is also a record of a social event or a natural catastrophe ultimately resulting in the end of the tree’s life. Concurrently, these artworks celebrate the lives of trees from California, Oregon, Louisiana and New York, while documenting the devastation left behind by historic storms such as Hurricane Sandy 2012, and Hurricane Katrina, 2005. Additionally, some trees felled by timber companies represent legal standoffs between police and protestors. The largest artwork in the exhibition documents the life and death of an enormous Redwood old enough to have witnessed the entire European invasion of North America — as well as the life and death of David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain (1974 -1998) who was an environmental activist tragically killed by a falling tree in suspicious circumstances during a protest in Northern California Redwood Forest against the Pacific Lumber Company.

Ryan Burns draws inspiration from each unique set of circumstances. On-site he assembles the paper collage in the location where the tree has fallen. Often, he must travel hundreds or even thousands of miles, or hike great distances to arrive at the specific place where he will capture a rubbed image of a tree’s entire life. To dramatize the creative event, Burns’ vehicle of choice for many years was an old ambulance. The artist skillfully illustrates the friction between the politics of economy and ecology by juxtaposing huge tree rings alongside the cultural debris evidenced by subtle printed images throughout each collage.Ryan Burns (1974 - ) is an artist, environmentalist and activist who attended the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana in the 1990s and now lives in Portland, Oregon. Through his research of urban and natural locations, Ryan Burns presents to us an epic story told by trees that are many times older than any living human being on planet Earth. His Dendrochronology frottages spotlight the natural recording of climate, and investigates society’s relationship with the environment at large.

For the artist, each artwork documents the life and death of a tree, sometimes spanning more than 500 years. Each artwork is also a record of a social event or a natural catastrophe ultimately resulting in the end of the tree’s life. Concurrently, these artworks celebrate the lives of trees from California, Oregon, Louisiana and New York, while documenting the devastation left behind by historic storms such as Hurricane Sandy 2012, and Hurricane Katrina, 2005. Additionally, some trees felled by timber companies represent legal standoffs between police and protestors. The largest artwork in the exhibition documents the life and death of an enormous Redwood old enough to have witnessed the entire European invasion of North America — as well as the life and death of David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain (1974 -1998) who was an environmental activist tragically killed by a falling tree in suspicious circumstances during a protest in Northern California Redwood Forest against the Pacific Lumber Company.

Ryan Burns draws inspiration from each unique set of circumstances. On-site he assembles the paper collage in the location where the tree has fallen. Often, he must travel hundreds or even thousands of miles, or hike great distances to arrive at the specific place where he will capture a rubbed image of a tree’s entire life. To dramatize the creative event, Burns’ vehicle of choice for many years was an old ambulance. The artist skillfully illustrates the friction between the politics of economy and ecology by juxtaposing huge tree rings alongside the cultural debris evidenced by subtle printed images throughout each collage. Burns work provokes us to ask many questions. How can an economic model based on perpetual “growth” continue while consuming finite natural resources? Where will we be 20 years, 50 years or 100 years or even 1000 years from now? How can society come to more enlightened terms of understanding our relationship with the limits of an infinite natural world?