_____This actually began as a reference for a pastel drawing, which hangs in my father's house to this day. Its style draws heavily from the grotesque amalgamations of flesh I made during high-school, but has a different meaning. Its title isn't really meant to focus on the Bible reference, save perhaps that it depicts a corruption thereof. The Tree is meant to appear powerful and imposing, but also gnarled, confusing, and horrifying. It is meant to appear as a twisted, illegible amalgam of human form. While it speaks of the corruption of a mindless domineering stance, it also speaks of the self-similarity of nature's forms. It is a tree, and also of man's flesh. (Hence, an opportunity for the title's double-meaning.) It appears that many parts of the body are represented in this tree, but in actuality only neck, shoulders, jaw and arm appear here. Some see power and strength. Some see sex. Some see anger and violence. In a tree of human life, I see all of these things. This image is meant to be an arresting reminder that it is we who cultivate the Human Tree, and that it is up to us what it ends up looking like.