In a small group of TICKON park's trees are some large blocks of oak. Dark-shiny from the sheep's lanolin, more easily formulated, abodes for insects. And most people will probably just walk by and think that these pieces of wood were just left under a previous tree felling.
But "Sheep Spaces", which was TICKON's very first work, was created by the English and highly acclaimed artist, David Nash, whose goal is to let nature and art merge completely. Thus, even then in 1993, he had for years been busy photographing 'sheep places' by rocks, by tree roots, fences, slopes, fallen trees.
In TICKON, he therefore also wanted to find a way to connect his work with living nature – and the sheep already used the small grove for shelter and protection.
The original four oak blocks were placed so that they did not stand in the way of the sheep's movement, but instead adapted to the animals' behavior and therefore would be used to rub against when the fur itched or rest against, while the nearby area of the park easily could be overseen.
The sheep do not dig, do not scratch, do not build up. They are just there, and in David Nash's Sheep Spaces it is the mere presence of the sheep that creates the work: a bare spot in the grass where they walk and the grease from their fur, which colors the oak blocks dark.
Artist: David Nash
Year: 1993
David Nash, born 1945 in England. Lives in small mining town in North Wales. Trained sculptor with wood as the preferred material and the chainsaw as the preferred tool. Also works with growth, pruning, fire, water and weather. His works can be found all over the world – in the Netherlands, France, the USA, Japan and elsewhere in the East