Trees in the forest near the northern Italian village of Giuseppe Penone’s birth have inspired the famed 79-year-old Arte Povera artist’s artwork from an early age, and they continue to prompt his poetic mediations in the form of bronze sculpture currently on view at Gagosian Gallery. After passing through a large gallery dramatically lined with cork oak tree bark and small sculptural masks of acacia leaves, visitors encounter four sculptures titled ‘Clepsydra,’ a reference to ancient water clocks that marked time with a slow, steady release (or ‘theft’) of water. For each, Penone removed (or ‘stole’) wood from a large tree to reveal a younger plant, stripping away the years and layers of growth to return to an earlier state. (On view in Chelsea through July 2nd).
