Spencer Finch: Lost Man Creek

Lost Man Creek is a miniature forest. But rather than growing naturally and of its own accord, this undulating landscape populated by some 4,000 dawn redwoods is a re-creation. Artist Spencer Finch partnered with the Save the Redwoods League to identify a 790-acre section of the protected Redwood National Park in California. Significantly scaling down the topography and tree canopy heights, he reimagined this corner of the California forest for MetroTech at a 1:100 scale. While the original trees range from 98 to 380 feet—taller than the buildings that surround the plaza—the trees in the installation are just one to four feet in height.

Finch (b. 1962, New Haven, CT) is a renowned Brooklyn-based artist whose investigations into the properties of light, color, nature, and perception have resulted in works that turn the colors of a sunset into ice cream or the shades of the Hudson River into stained glass. Combining scientific observation with this poetic sensibility, Lost Man Creek is a living artwork for the heart of Downtown Brooklyn that makes the intangible scale of a redwood forest tangible. Through this new perspective, the work becomes a universal reminder of nature’s power to inspire, inviting us to take a leap from diminutive to gigantic and from urban center to California forest.

The dawn redwoods in the installation are deciduous conifers native to this area. Over the winter they shed their needles, which will return in the spring.

Spencer Finch: Lost Man Creek is curated by Emma Enderby.

After the exhibition closed, Public Art Fund found homes for all 4,000 baby trees in the installation. Over 200 were given away during our adopt-a-tree day and the rest were donated to various organizations: Trust for Governors Island; Kids Against Drugs; Prospect Park; Clay Pit Park in Staten Island; and NYC Parks.

Spencer Finch (b. 1962, New Haven, CT) lives and works in Brooklyn. Having exhibited extensively internationally, his solo shows and projects include Ulysses, Marfa Contemporary, TX (2014); Colour/Temperature, Hanes Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC (2014); Spencer Finch: Yellow, Montclair Art Museum, NJ (2014); A Certain Slant of Light, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York (2014); The Skies can’t keep their secret, Turner Contemporary, Margate, England (2014); Painting Air, RISD Museum of Art, Providence, RI (2012); Lunar, The Art Institute of Chicago (2011); Rome, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA (2011); Between the light—and me, Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst, MA (2011); My Business, With the Cloud, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (2010); Evening Star, Pallant House, Chichester, England (2010); Between The Moon and The Sea, Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France (2010); and As if the sea should part and show a further sea, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2009). He has taken part in numerous group exhibitions including Light and Landscape, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY (2012); NEON, La material luminosa dell’arte, MACRO, Rome (2012); More Light, Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle, Netherlands (2011); Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010); Making Worlds: 53rd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia (2009); 50 Moons of Saturn, Turin Triennial, Italy (2008); Refract, Reflect, Project: Light Work from the Collection, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2007); Light Art from Artificial Light, ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany (2005); and Colour After Klein, Barbican Art Gallery, London (2005). His work can be found in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Finch is represented by James Cohan Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris; and Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin and Stockholm.