Nemelka’s tree trunk, discovered in a junkyard, took early four months to get just right.
This past fall, a brightly painted tree stump was planted on the Harold B. Lee Library’s fifth floor.
The stump was just one part of the art exhibit Age of Godz: Transcendentalism Technicolored by art history and curatorial studies major Kevin W. Nemelka (’14). Nemelka created a simple but colorful realm of nature, complete with a nostalgic 8mm film projection of water and other natural landscapes, Pacific-hued painted wood panels with sparkly metallic strips, and outer space paintings—one of which popped out with provided 3-D glasses.
The concept for the colorful tree trunk came to Nemelka after researching different color theories. While some scientists claim that color is merely a reflection of light, others believe that all objects innately contain color; Nemelka chose to embody the latter theory in his tree stump, with its rainbow-colored loops manifest only on the inner rings. He says, “I wanted to represent this idea of people having divine qualities that aren’t very visible here on this planet but that will become visible later.”
— Natalie Sandberg Taylor (’14)
Web: kevnemelka.com
