Erika Giovanna Klien

In Klien’s „Tree in the Wind” the effects of the strong air streams on a plant is shown. Exposed to the outer phenomenon - “Tree in the Wind” - seems like a visualised metaphor of Klien’s own life. In the upper part of the image, the branches of the tree are depicted in bright yellow and purple tones, which move and sway in the wind. Affected by the stronger wind, the branches in the middle and lower parts are in a dark purple and brown. Lone, brightly coloured branches at the bottom are drawn in jagged lines, similar to a lightning that just bolted into the wood. A symbiosis of activeness and passiveness is created. With finest aquarelle technique the branches are made curves of multiple levels, imitating the movement of the branches. In this way the individual movements are linked together in harmony. The metaphor describes if a crisis should be solved with elasticity or rigidity. Klien also tried to answer that question in her personal records of her years in America with the example of bridge building. It was an idea by her brother – who had lived in Austria but later also moved to the US – structural engineer Gunther Klien and an idea that grew further, thanks to an architecture course at one of the many art institutions she had taught at. The danger of discontinuous power on even elastic plant structures is visualised in the metaphor of the plant: the sudden bending to line into the curve of the wind leads to the breakage of the trunk – the jagged line of the breakage symbolises a lightning bolt, creating jarring similarity between the active and the passive.