The Tree Outside The Asylum Painting

I created this painting on an art residency in St Remy de Provence in France. This was where Van Gogh resided in an Asylum for a year of his life, and this painting was made just outside the asylum, with the asylum in the background. This painting, and my other works from the residency, won the first prize in an exhibition at the end of the residency. It was shortlisted for the Gemini Prize and exhibited in Singapore later that year. The Tree Outside The Asylum is a special painting for me. It is a dawn view of a beautiful lone tree that stands outside of Saint Paul (Van Gogh's) Asylum, which is still a hospital today. The tree, representing nature, is symbolic of divinity. When I was drawing it one day, a bird perched in the tree. It immediately reminded me of the biblical story of Noah's arc, wherein a dove returns to the arc with an olive branch. That image has become a universal symbol of hope, which seemed to be manifesting itself in real life in this particular tree. It was poignant because of the tree's location as just outside the confining walls of the hospital - a place often full of those overthrown by personal devils, desperation and despair. These people so need hope, and it felt like divine synchronicity for this bird to appear as though saying, "hope is here, in this tree, in life, in divinity."

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:32 W x 45.6 H x 0 D in

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