Mary Hrbacek

Metamorphoses: The World Tree Series


Inspired by the metaphors of transformation in Roman poet Ovid's work, The Metamorphoses, my new group of drawings and paintings, The World Tree Series, is suffused with feelings of revelation and regeneration evoked by anthropomorphic trees I have found in my travels. I have been drawing trees for ten years, while also working from the live model. Gradually the human physique and tree limbs merged in my psyche, fusing human and tree anatomy into deconstructed tree forms.

The deconstructed forms disclose an imaginative perception of them as a refuge and a sanctuary. The trees reconfigure to reveal dark monarchs, monsters, entwined figures, animals, body parts and facial features. I expand the dramatic potential of the images, eliminating naturalistic references. The finely honed shapes are placed with an eye toward activating the picture surface, transposing edgy, metaphoric images into psychic domain that emphasizes life's multiple meanings and motifs.

The unity of all life is accentuated as the varied personas within us and in our networks of relationships reveals their correspondence to mysterious affinities in the tree configurations. By realizing that nature's constant state of flux reflects the variability in human existence, we can more readily reconcile ourselves to life's true changing character.

For reviews of Hrbacek's work please click:  "Vibrant and Varied Works on Paper"; "Entwined": "Trees with Personality": "Charcoal and Thread":