Sjoerd Buisman (1948) is fascinated by growth processes. In the 1970s he photographed trees that displayed an anomalous growth pattern. He also hung plants upside down and photographed them to show how stalks would bend and grow towards the light. In other words: the opposite of gravity. Another aspect of growth is the time factor. From the early 1980s Buisman uses these growth processes in nature as a model for his sculptures. For example in the series of sculptures entitled Phyllotaxis, composed in analogy to the arrangement of leaves on plants and trees. Leaves follow a helical arrangement according to a fixed principle that Buisman established using palm trees and celery. The differences in length between the constituent parts and their rotation relative to one another were calculated according to this principle.
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Buisman is not a biologist;
he is an artist.
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The result is a sculpture about natural balance that is dynamic because it incorporates the time factor. Untitled (Sphere) from 1991/2015 was created in accordance with the same growth principle. However, Buisman is not a biologist; he is an artist. He shows how the growth processes in nature can be understood rationally and that this internal order can each us how to take a fresh look at our relationship with nature, now that we are increasingly aware that as human beings we are part of that same nature.
Bert Jansen
Catalogue International Sculpture Route
ARTZUID 2017 Amsterdam