Bare tree at Tate Britain

An artist who unveiled a bare Christmas tree in Tate Britain admitted the lack of tinsel might be “a weird kind of reaction” to his previous job as a professional Christmas tree decorator.

Giorgio Sadotti’s tree, a 30 ft Norwegian Spruce, is naked apart from a coiled whip and a circle of silver postcards around its base.

The Manchester-born artist said: “It was quite funny because when the Tate asked me, they did not realise at the time that I had worked for a year as a Christmas tree decorator.

“It was in New York and it was always corporate lobbies, so of course we used to come in with our kit and decorations and do the tree, and at the end of the day everyone in the offices would come down and stand in a circle around the tree and applaud our magnificent effort because we would turn the lights on and there it was.

“In a way, maybe part of this tree without decorations is a weird kind of reaction to the fact that I used to do it as a job. I used to de- corate these objects.”

He said the whip will be used during a ceremony on Twelfth Night when the spirit of Christmas is driven out of the building.

This is the 23rd year the Tate has asked a leading artist to design a tree for its central London gallery. In previous years they have been decorated with beeswax candles, tights and model planes.

Sadotti, who said he likes to make “art that is quite simple”, said he hoped it would make people think about the tree.

He said: “For me the challenge was to present a tree that was naturally effortless. A tree that managed to maintain its dignity and timeless grace. A tree that remained sublime. A tree that was familiar but strange, like all trees but no other. A tree that had potential to become another. A tree that talked. A tree as a tree as art.”

The London-based artist, who also used to make Christmas decorations in summer as part of his job, admitted he allowed his two children to decorate his tree at home.