The Holy Tree

“Above all this stood an enormous tree all bleached under the sun, the rain, the cold, and deprived of leaves. This was the Holy Tree. I myself don’t know why this tree was holy but I had witnessed many people, whoever did pass by, that would tear voluntarily a strip of their clothes and attach this to the tree. Thus through many years of the same act, like a veritable parade of banners under the pressure of wind all these personal inscriptions of signature, very softly to my innocent ear used to give echo to the sh-h-h-sh-h of silver leaves of the poplars.”

Arshile Gorki (1942)
In: Herschel B. Chipp (1984), Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, p.536