The Urban Fruit Tree

If you’d think of a tree that grows urban fruits instead of cherries, apples or pears, how would it look? This is what California-based sculptor Jean Wells must have thought when she came up with the idea for the Urban Fruit Tree. This beautiful 16 by 11′ foot tree, which was located in front of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) in Los Angeles in May, has its branches adorned with typical stuff you can harvest in the urban atmosphere: glinstering candies, confections, burgers and soda pop.

My Modern Met explains that the Urban Fruit Tree was brought to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as part of its MUSE project, and it turned out to be a very popular piece. According to the museum, “the artwork of Jean Wells brings together the master craftsmanship of an Old-World, church mosaic tradition with the contemporary pop sensibilities of artists such as Jeff Koons, Claes Oldenburg, or Roy Lichtenstein. Made from brilliantly colored, custom, hand-cut glass, Jean Wells creates larger than life versions of everyday objects”.

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