Israel, 1985
Thesis: Stone, Space, Me; Pretending to be solid
Pretending to be solid
How to enter a stone? Knocking? Stroking? Breaking it with a hammer? Carving a door in order to step inside?
This installation is a collection of man-made stones, where each of them carries a specific quality. Together they reveal the different layers stones contain. Not necessarily exhibiting actual caves, walls, floors or corridors, I researched the potential content of a stone, the meaning and narratives it might bring its observer. Could a stone be more then merely solid? Dwelling in the stone, the mind becomes the traveler, moving through environments, places and spaces that each of the stone may offer. Those spaces are changing, circumstantial.
An attempt to frame the coincidental
I spilled some salt on the table. It was an accident. I left it drying there. The day after, I found a beautiful crystal shape. Endless white, shiny surfaces on the edge of cracking under the hot steaming sun; a memory of a place I once visited.
Following salt formation phenomenas that occur in nature, I became fascinated with the extraordinary sensible shapes they offer. Looking to imitate and re-create those in a cultural surrounding, I learned to manipulate the material and to follow the un-expected aesthetics it offers. This work is a visual translation of the material experimentations I have done, exhibited together with found objects from the Dead Sea. I am questioning what nature is expected to create, as well as what is the role of the maker and the observer in these on-going processes.
Nature reveals spontaneous beauty. It is perfect and yet excludes the idea of perfection. 'Pretending to be solid' and 'An attempt to frame the coincidental', are two projects that correspond to one another, dealing with the relations of man and nature, control and coincidence.
