Neptunian Oak

Readers may recognize Missouri-based artist Nathan Hoffman from his 2024 UMA sculpture Poseidon’s Throne. For the 2025 installation, Hoffman will create THE NEPTUNIAN OAK,  a conduit for life and movement although being a representation of a dead and lifeless tree at its first landing on the ocean floor. It’s dislocated from its usual environment, however it will still function with great purpose. Even in death, a tree is a vessel for life. The hollowed out trunk and limbs will invite life to inhabit and explore its many crevices and grooves, swimming into and out of the voluminous space. Sections of big thick, chunky bark will provide surface area and many attachment points for life to flourish. A large tree commands your attention and deserves respect from the many years it’s lived and hardships it’s endured. This tree will be a reminder of the cycle of life and death and rebirth as new growth overtakes its once colorless and lifeless form. The submerged tree is also a reminder of rising sea levels and the rapidly changing earth. As living trees create oxygen through photosynthesis, in death this tree will do the same by giving algae a place to grow. If we could all be more like trees.