"Nature as an Object" - Nature Activity by AZU

This is Azu’s representation of the use of nature as an object or commodity. It’s a line drawing in pen, of an axe embedded in one of four stumps, with three small chopped logs in the foreground. The natural parts of the drawing are done in scribble tone, while the manmade axe is very carefully rendered in controlled lines. The chopped logs are a mix- their splintery edges are a series of parallel lines, while the bark is also done in scribble tone. The axe is very much the center of the composition. The work seems to march forward in space, the stumps emerging from the background. I imagine there is a forest past the picture place. And the logs spill onto the foreground. Everything is very well anchored to the picture plane, although the axe seems insubstantially anchored into the stump. The picture, for this reason, does not seem very planned out. The stumps seem very solid, while the chopped logs are broken and haphazard. It is easy to see the difference between the purpose of chopping the logs and the natural rooted trees, of which only the stumps remain. This work makes me think that there is something important happening elsewhere. The way that the logs are abandoned witht he axe left in the stump implies that the woodcutter had to leave in a hurry; nobody leaves an axe out to rust in the rain. But perhaps they have gone to add logs to the already-burning fire; in which case they will be back. Either way, Azu’s picture has a real sense of a moment in time; that the logs will not be here forever, and stoon maybe even the stumps will be gone. It adds to the idea of logs as a commodity used for fuel. I think that although this is a solid sketch by Azu. It does not seem like a very finished drawing, but it dos convey the idea that nature is something to be consumed and it conveys a sense of the passage of time.