die eiche – bonifatius revidiert / the oak – boniface revised

Herman de Vries has devoted his work to nature. The artist has an extensive knowledge of botany, particularly as pertains to the effects, symbolic power, history, and legends relating to plants. In this work, he planted a large oak tree and surrounded it with a fence. The fence is reinforced with spears and has gold lettering that reads: “wynfrith me caesit – herman me recreavit.” Or: “winfrid cut me down and herman revived me.” This quote makes reference to the legend of St. Boniface, whose birth name was Winfrid. This important missionary of the Frankish Empire wanted to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity to the Germanic “heathens” by cutting down an oak tree consecrated to Donar (Thor). This became the symbol of the violent suppression of the original nature-based Germanic religions. The artist intended to revive this close connection to nature with this work. At the same time, the installation also makes reference to Joseph Beuys’s 7000 Oaks. Herman de Vries has been working with art and botany since 1953. In 1984, he took part in the legendary Düsseldorf show von hier aus and created the oak – boniface revised for the hell-gruen exhibition as part of the 2002/2003 Bundesgartenschau in the Lower Rhine region.