''Host Analog'' is an outdoor 1991 sculpture by

Buster Simpson Lewis Cole "Buster" Simpson (born in 1942) is an Americans, American sculptor and environmental artist based in Seattle, Washington. Career Lewis Cole Simpson was born in Saginaw, Michigan and raised in a nearby farming community. He became int ...

located outside the

Oregon Convention Center The Oregon Convention Center is a convention center in Portland, Oregon. Completed in 1989 and opened in 1990, it is located on the east side of the Willamette River in the Lloyd District neighborhood. It is best known for the twin spire towers, ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States.

Description and history

's living art installation ''Host Analog'' consists of a large 1,000-year-old Douglas fir log placed outside the

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

seedlings from the state's old growth forest and represent the "connections between the forest and the citizens of Portland". The wind-fallen tree was taken from the Bull Run River's watershed east of Portland and cut into pieces, resembling a fallen Roman column; mist from a

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

irrigation system installed around the log is sprayed in fifteen-minute increments. Signage nearby explains the public sculpture and shows how the log appeared after its 1991 installation. The Public Art Archive offers the following description of the artwork:

The growth and development of an indigenous volunteer plantscape are shown in three panoramic images taken over a nine-year period. This piece addresses sustainability and contrasts a dynamic event in an ordered urban context.

It is part of the collection of the

Regional Arts & Culture Council The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is an organization that administers arts grants in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties that also do advocacy in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon, United States. It evolved from the city� ...

. In 2000, Paul Kelsch wrote in ''Environmentalism in Landscape Architecture'' about a dilemma faced by Simpson:

Though the seedlings are growing quite well, the log is being enveloped by other vegetation that has seeded itself in around it. Simpson is unsure what to do. Should he allow the other plants to grow, or should be cut them out? All of them, or just some? As he put it: How much should he "play God"?

The sculpture has been called "unique" and included in published walking tours and guides of Portland.

References

External links

''Host Analog''
at BusterSimpson.net

at GreenMuseum.org * ttp://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!324177~!0#focus ''Host Analog'', (sculpture).at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

{{Portal bar, Ecology, Oregon, Visual arts 1991 establishments in Oregon 1991 sculptures Individual trees in Oregon Lloyd District, Portland, Oregon Northeast Portland, Oregon Outdoor sculptures in Portland, Oregon Stainless steel sculptures in Oregon Stone sculptures in Oregon Wooden sculptures in Oregon

Description and history

See also

References

External links