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The Sculpture
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Sky Lines, (previously untitled), consists of twelve massive trunks of Scots pine and European larch (each about 16 metres high), arranged in a straight line (approximately 35 metres long). Vong’s use of trees accentuates the bareness of the hill, and the trees themselves, stripped of branches, appear like bare spines.
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Standing magnificently tall and visible from miles away, the trees introduce a vertical element to the horizontal rhythms of the site and create drama in the landscape. Although Vong chose trees because he wanted a material that belonged to the place in some way, the arrangement is deliberately artificial and precise. Consequently, tension is created between nature and the man- made. The line plays with the idea of a barrier or wall. It is a contradiction; it neither defines a frontier nor encloses a space, it has no inside or outside. It invites curiosity.
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The holes drilled in the trunks (about 40 in each) are also made in response to the site. Vong created them for the wind, wanting this natural element to pass through his work. The holes further undermine the idea of a barrier, but also invite visitors to view the landscape through a myriad of circular view points. Vong hopes the work will encourage visitors to look at the site in a different way, "to make the ordinary slightly less ordinary".
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An element of surprise is also a feature of the work; Vong could not predict the effect the finished work would have in the landscape and how it would respond to changes in weather and light conditions.
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