1982 – plaster, terracotta, charcoal
A room on the villa’s top floor is lit by natural sunlight that filters through the branches of a large plane tree just outside the window. The artist juxtaposes the natural tree to the “Tree of Water,” placed near the window. This “tree” consists of a column made of plaster and gripped by the artist’s hands, which have left visible imprints on the material. The column rests on a fragment of a terracotta vase and another clay piece marks the upper rim of the “tree.”
On the wall in front of the column, Penone used charcoal to trace the enormous imprint of the inside of a human lip, with smeared marks, simulating a pool of water. From this drawing emerges a small plaster cast that shows the impression left by hands and lips when cupping water to drink.
