I view this work as an intellectual argument into what something is or appears to be. It is a challenge to the observer to take a step back and think again.
I am reminded of the work of Rene Magritte as in his painting titled ‘Cesi n’est pas une pipe – this is not a pipe’ which indeed it isn’t. It is a painting of a pipe. Therefore it is a representation of a pipe but it is not a pipe.
In the case of ‘An Oak Tree’ Michael has taken this argument a stage further. We are presented with what is clearly at first sight a glass of water on a glass shelf. However Michael informs us, the viewer, that we are in fact looking at an Oak tree. The objects are accompanied by a text in which we are informed why it is an oak tree. The text, written by the artist, in the form of an interview, challenges him to explain himself and ask why it is an Oak tree. The process of creating the Oak tree is presented along with the statement that the Oak tree exists in the mind and is physically present but in the form of a glass of water.
The piece is an example of conceptual art whereby the act of presentation, coupled with the dialogue, questions us to examine and think about what we perceive about the world in which we exist. In this example the artist describes what he has presented to us and explains why it is what it is.
This is better explained by the Michael in an interview on his website titled ‘I’m interested in language’. In this interview he states “I am interested in language and the way in which we interpret the world, understand the world, through the things we create.”
Mark Taylor 'Studio Practice' 