Often called the "Tree of Life," Metaphor: The Tree of Utah was created in the early 1980's by European artist Karl Momen, and has baffled locals and passersby in equal measure for decades since its installation.
As the story goes, Swedish artist Karl Momen was visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats when he was struck by a vision of a tree, an odd image to hit among one of the world's most desolate landscapes. The resulting project, finished in 1986, is an almost 90-foot tall psychedelic spire made mostly of concrete. The trunk of the "tree" is a sharply cubic tower atop of which is a bulbous canopy of multi-colored orbs, the net effect looking like something that jumped out of an acid trip as opposed to springing from the salty earth below.
At the foot of the piece is a plaque with the words from Ode to Joy by Friedrich Schiller, although the direct connection between the work and words is a bit of a mystery. Also located on the ground surrounding the fenced off base of the statue are spherical fragments of cement that look like the thick fallen leaves from the otherworldly tree.
The artist returned to his native Sweden after completing the work, but as late as 2011 Momen is still working to get a visitors center erected near the fading piece of psychedelica.
