Michael Amery - City Trees

A series of 10 small paintings will be available through 131a Gallery from 18 August.

I call palms city trees because they are often favoured in our cities for their practicality above anything else. Examples of this practicality include: they occupy a relatively small area which is suitable where space is limited.; their roots don’t cause damage to infrastructure; they are hardy; they are not easy to vandalise; they don’t create big shady areas where loiterers can congregate or dense, dark areas where criminals can hide; they can’t be climbed easily in order to gain access to properties.

I always like the feeling I get from a palm tree, which to me is a romantic, summery, relaxed feeling. But the irony is they have often been chosen for very different reasons altogether. This series attempts to romanticise the palm tree, one of the few pieces of nature we have chosen to allow in our carefully controlled cities.