Ungermann, Scott – Garden Art and the Erosion of Truth

Story of the Box

Garden Art & the Erosion of Truth

The inspiration for this box is a poem. The poem is below & is also contained within the box.

Further inspiration came from a piece of found art, better described as “rescued art”. The wooden mountain on top of the box comes from a garden installation in Moraga that caught my attention for years as I drove by. When the house sold, I was concerned about the fate of this garden art, and my concern turned to alarm when I saw a tree-removal crew show up to start stripping the landscape bare. I inquired & they answered – the garden sculpture was to be removed & discarded. So, it was time to save this little showcase of human-engineered mountains & bridges & temples & a faded clock-face & a Buddha & so many colorful rocks. We scooped them up and put them in the back of the car to help find them a new home.

What was the centerpiece of this garden art sculpture is now the lid to this box which speaks about the erosion of truth. The Buddha sits in front of the faded clock face and waits; some temples rest comfortably on the wood which will eventually erode. Other temples rescued from the garden are within the box in further states of erosion. The box is on a spring hinge, so it shuts with force.

This box is meant to be placed in a garden and allowed to erode gently. It is an interactive box that opens and closes. The sand of the hill is “kinetic sand” and can be shaped and re-shaped. Buried within the sand is a blue marble (also found).

Materials of Construction: Pine box, wood stain, found art, kinetic sand, pool tile samples, brass spring hinge, glue, sand, resin & a marble.

The Erosion of Truth

Erosion is a process.

It takes time – lots of time.

Oceanside cliffs that formed over millennia

erode gently from the battering of waves below

and torrents of rain above –

Usually they don’t give way all at once,

until they do.

This is not a human-made phenomenon,

but when we build our houses & roads on these cliffs

and the cliffs eventually collapse into the sea,

We tend to look around for someone to blame –

It is only natural that we

blame ourselves.

Building trust is also a process.

It too takes time – lots of time.

Trust that is built slowly from many perspectives

erodes quickly from pounding waves of un-truths

and deluges of invented facts –

Truth can only be seen from one angle,

until it’s gone.

Scott Ungermann 7/5/21