In the late 1970s, I abandoned any thought of inscribing ideas into material and tried to find a way of revealing the inherent subject within the material: the tree within the tree, the seed within the wood. The first works were simply an unpeeling of logs to reveal the first years of growth underneath the bark, or the form of potential growth in seed.

: a seed-shaped form made from the base of an elm tree. This work was completely burnt and shows the navel points where branches once extended from the cut surface.

My relationship with wood and trees ended with 

, where the wood from the entire tree, including the branches and all the sawdust from being cut, was dropped from the original height of the tree onto the floor, forming its own constellation of material.

Prior to that there were two experiments: one, 

, in which the main trunk of the tree was laid out in a spiral starting at the centre with the top of the tree; and

, a thirty-year-old pine tree arranged into thirty piles from one to thirty pieces.

Early Tree Works

, 1978, larch wood, diameter: 6.78 m. Photograph by Stephen White, London.

Flat Tree

, 1978, beech wood, length: 39 cm, diameter: 33 cm.

Tree Seed

Upright Tree

Bare Tree

Re-arranged Tree

Last Tree

, 1979, birch tree, height: 3 metres, diameter: 10 cm.

Early Tree Works

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