There was a man who made a tree, just so he could chop it down, in which Christopher Robbins builds a fourteen foot tree out of plywood, chops it down, mills it back into a sheet of plywood, and returns it to Home Depot in exchange for a receipt, completing its tortured cycle from tree to wood to paper.

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The plywood tree was planted on a cold morning in February. Thanks to Baca, Brian and Shelly.

The opening took place at the RISD Museum as part of the SITINGS 2007 exhibition, along with Melissa Armstrong's Paper Jungle, Friday, March 2, 2007. 7-9pm.

The tree was chopped down High Noon on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 outside the RISD Museum, in Providence, RI, with Steve Roberge at the other side of the two-man saw.

photos & videos

· making the tree
· planting the tree
· felling the tree: photos, 20-second stopmotion or 5-minute video
· flowers had sprouted when I came to cut it up
· milling the tree back into a sheet of plywood
· And then I returned the plywood to Home Depot.

press

· DIF Magazine
· 944/ Phoenix Magazine
· Providence Phoenix
· MocoLoco
· RISD/ Hi-Res

thanks

Thanks to Tucker Houlihan for his help building it,
Baca, Brian and Shelly for helping me put it up,
and Steve Roberge for his help knocking it down.