The Gubei Road Shanghai big tree flower sculpture is in Lyon France!

Photos by: randyi66, spiky247, Diamond Header and kl loth on Flickr.


Sorry I have been away for so long. To make up for it though, I have one heck of a crazy post for y'all.

I have stumbled upon something very very interesting, by chance.

I have discovered that there is a twin sister of that giant, crazy, colourful tree/flower sculpture thing in Gubei!!

I'm sure many people (both residents and tourists) have passed that sculpture wondering what it's doing there.. It seems like it's in the middle of nowhere (which it sort of is, at the junction of some very busy big roads/freeways) on a big patch of grass. It is definitely eye-catching, some may say gaudy but personally, I like it.

The bright colour breaks up the horribly grey polluted sky...

It seems that everyone has seen the sculpture but nobody knows anything about it.

Until now!

Like I said, I found the twin sister in Lyon. And have managed to dig up some info about it (excuse dodgy translation):

The bouquet of giant flowers is a work of Korean Jeong-Hwa Choi, entitled “Flower Tree”.

It was exposed on the place Antonin Poncet, near the quays of the Rhone, at the time of the 7th biennale (September 18, 2003-January 4, 2004). The sculpture circulated since, in particular with the royal saltworks of Arc and Senans in 2004, before integrating the public domain of the Town of Lyon (deliberation of July 13, 2006). The common one wished to acquire it because of the passion of the Lyoneses for this work which they have a long time, like you, kept in their memory. Currently, the sculpture is in the course of restoration to find all its colors and to remake its appearance at the same place as in 2003. It will remain there during all 9th Biennial Contemporary art (September 19, 2007-January 6, 2008) then will join a site whose localization is not decided yet.


Over the years, the living sculpture, "The Flower Tree" is one of many symbols of Lyon. The Tree Flowers was installed in place Antonin Poncet during the Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2003. The sculpture was created by Jeong-Hwa Choi and is the reason the sculpture is located in place Antonin Poncet (because it has chosen the place for his sculpture itself). The sculpture is made of stainless steel and painted with polyester resin and measures 6 meters with a total of 85 flowers of polyester resin.

Now it seems that the public has become a fan of The Flower Tree. I asked a few questions to people who passed the statue to see the reaction of the public and each person said they liked the sculpture and thought it was pretty. I also asked if they thought it was an obstruction in a beautiful place with Lyon Rhône on one side and the hill Forvière on the other, but they said they did not think it was an obstruction of anything and instead, he added color and interest to the sector. One person said, "[The Flower Tree] brightens the landscape of the 2nd District because the colors of the sculpture has bright colors that are not found in winter. For my part, I find it pretty."

However, not everybody was happy with the sculpture. In fact, it was the Commission Supérieure des Monuments Historiques who originally opposed the installation of the sculpture. The Commission said the tree was to flowers "misrepresenting an exceptional" and was "too modern highly intellectual."
Personally, I agreed with people so I did a survey. I pass by the tree flowers almost daily and, in my opinion, the sculpture is a living work of art that gives a bit of joy and color to the neighborhood and the majority of people who view the work of Jeong-Hwa Choi each day.

Source: Lyon Capitale.


I know, I know. That still doesn't answer the question of the Gubei one.

Some questions I have and I wonder if anyone knows the answers???

1. Is it created by the same Korean artist?

2. Is it a replica of the one in Lyon, or vice versa?

3. What year was it put there?

4. Who created it?!

Interesting...

There was also a bit of a discussion of the Gubei Flower Tree here, on Trip advisor