Richard Galling, 20-001A

During the summer of 2019, a large Russian willow tree fell on the grounds of the Lynden Sculpture Garden. This willow, located in the southeast corner of the property, was a part of the original landscape design commissioned by the Bradley family in the 1920s. The tree spent the better part of a year submerged in the man-made pond it overlooked. During the excavation process, the now-compromised wood was sectioned off for use in this sculpture.

This work was produced by a process-driven approach. Here, various power-carving tools were put to use, slowly removing layers of the willow’s growth. The process was emergent and determined through an open-ended, responsive logic. The wood has not been treated or dried. Now complete, and exposed to the elements, the sculpture will slowly decompose over the next decade.

The sculpture is sited across the pond from the place where it was originally rooted. Now framed by two birch trees, it looks back to its original home where the broken trunk can still be seen.

About the Artist
Richard Galling is an artist, music producer, and DJ. Galling received his BFA from Art Center College of Design (Los Angeles) and his MFA from Yale University (New Haven). He was a 2011 recipient of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowship. Galling has exhibited at The Suburban, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Peregrine Program, Ebersmoore and LVL3 (Chicago); The Green Gallery, INOVA, and CENTER (Milwaukee); The Poor Farm (Manawa), 47 Canal and Greenpoint Terminal Gallery (New York); Duve (Berlin); the UC Irvine Room Gallery, The John Riepenhoff Experience at Pepin Moore (Los Angeles). As a music producer and collaborator, he has released records on The Sound of White Columns (New York) and Jolly Jams Records (Berlin). Galling teaches at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.