Description

110 x 110cm Acrylic painting on canvas framed in oak.

In 1919 Joseph Smeaton Chase called the iconic Joshua Tree “A misshapen pirate with belt boots hands and teeth stuck full of daggers” in his book California Desert Trails. He began “One can scarcely find a term of ugliness, that is not apt for this plant.”  He continues “A landscape filled with Joshua trees, has a nightmare effect even in broad daylight: at the witching hour it can be almost infernal”.

I find this a curious viewpoint; beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I find these so called trees to be striking and fascinating. Their wild and unexpected shapes, are memorising. Their branches are like arms: their fists of spiky leaves are strange and resilient, their trunks are powerful and enduring.

While crossing the Mojave Desert, the Mormon settlers are said to have given them the common name (Joshua Tree) in the 19th century. The outstretched arms made them think of the biblical figure Joshua. A spiritual symbol in an otherwise harsh landscape.

Interestingly, Chase also has it in for the Cholla Cactus calling them “the vilest of the vile” This statement accompanies the photographs earlier in the same book. Conversely, I see them as striking, unusual and sculptural, but perhaps he was referring simply to their sharp spines….

At any rate, pirates are cool.