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Writer's pictureMonica Blignaut

Zander Olsen

Artist 323

Zander Olsen

Tree, Line

Art installation and photography


Artist Zander Olsen taking a photograph of his ongoing art series ‘tree, line’ which creates optical illusions wrapping trees in forests to create a new plan between the foreground and background of the natural landscape
Artist Zander Olsen


Zander Olsen is a welsh artist who specializes in art installation and photography. His photography and art installations are rooted in transforming landscapes and this is further explored in his strong interest in architecture.


Olsen‘s ongoing art series is called ‘Tree, Line’. This series comprises of whimsical land art installations that explore and play with our understanding of background and foreground.

‘Tree, Line’ an art installation  that creates a new plan using wrapped trees in Uk forests by artist Zander Olsen
Tree, Line

Olsen swaddles each tree in carefully aligned swathes of material to achieve his optical illusions. He creates interactive art that play with the backdrop. Through this he challenges and reimagines the existing landscape.


When questioned about ‘Tree, Line,’ Olsen explains his is “an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest”. It explores the relationship between “tree, not-tree and the line of horizon.” Through this process he temporarily creates mountains out of the trees.

‘Tree, Line’ an art installation  that creates a new plan using wrapped trees in Uk forests by artist Zander Olsen
Tree, Link

He then photographs his art installations. Zander Olsen’s work is site specific and reflects Olsen’s travels through the UK. This includes Surrey, Hampshire and Wales. He now lives in London.

Through ‘wrapping’ his trees with white material he constructs a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon and shows it to audience through the camera’s viewpoint.

‘Tree, Line’ an art installation  that creates a new plan using wrapped trees in Uk forests by artist Zander Olsen
Tree, Line

I love how he uses the landscape and trees as part of his his photographic installations. There’s a beautiful energy in the striking visuals he presents. It forces one to stop and look again. His compositions are breathtaking. And one could argue is his true medium. The trees and material are a means to an end. His optical illusions.


The experience of a visual illusion uses the disconnect between our perception and our reality. This can show how the brain can fail to re-create the physical world.


‘Tree, Line’ an art installation  that creates a new plan using wrapped trees in Uk forests by artist Zander Olsen
Tree, Line

Olsen manipulates our understating of the real and the imagined and how they share a physical space in our brains. This challenges how we think and creates an interesting new reality even if only for the moment you take in his art.



‘Tree, Line’ an art installation  that creates a new plan using wrapped trees in Uk forests by artist Zander Olsen
Tree, Line

Sources Consulted


‘Tree, Line’ an art installation  that creates a new plan using wrapped trees in Uk forests by artist Zander Olsen
Tree, Line


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