"The Net, Reconfigured"
Nets continue to hold my attention, perhaps because they seem to be emblematic of the many problems our modern world is facing.
I had decided to start a new project, give up on nets, to “hang them on the nail”, as the expression goes in German (much like a tool which one does not use any more), but then the piece in which I did just that led instead to a new departure.
That piece of canvas, which was hanging on a nail, with its shadowy projection of a net, told a story, and it made me want to tell others. I produced more cut outs, which turned into building blocks for a new reality. The net may be taking center stage again, but in doing so it is transfigured.
Along with these cut outs, I continue to print and paint, tackling the net directly on the canvas. Some days seem to be made for cutting, others for integration.
"Breaking Through" (Installation, part of the "Net Reconfigured" exhibit)
“Breaking Through” is the last step of a journey--and a leap into new territory.
It is about nets, about the way they capture or rein in, and how we can cut through them, and create a new world from the broken pieces. In more general terms it is about confinement and liberation, but also about destruction and reintegration.
After working on the subject of nets in many different ways over the course of the last three years, I felt the urge to literally move into a new space and to take the viewers with me.
The result is an installation consisting of two parts: Hanging from the ceiling, there is an empty frame, which visibly held the imprint of a net painting before it was slashed out, leaving just the bare minimum of it clinging to the stretchers. Some of the pieces, which were cut out, have dropped to the floor others are now “floating freely” on the wall behind it.
The effect goes beyond what I intended: The frame draws you in and as you step up to it, look through it and observe what happens to the pieces on the wall, then walk around it and back, your view seems to expand and your mind becomes engaged. Some people also feel like posing in the frame, adding their own interpretation, testimony to the universality of the subject.
July 2016,
Nets continue to hold my attention, perhaps because they seem to be emblematic of the many problems our modern world is facing.
I had decided to start a new project, give up on nets, to “hang them on the nail”, as the expression goes in German (much like a tool which one does not use any more), but then the piece in which I did just that led instead to a new departure.
That piece of canvas, which was hanging on a nail, with its shadowy projection of a net, told a story, and it made me want to tell others. I produced more cut outs, which turned into building blocks for a new reality. The net may be taking center stage again, but in doing so it is transfigured.
Along with these cut outs, I continue to print and paint, tackling the net directly on the canvas. Some days seem to be made for cutting, others for integration.
"Breaking Through" (Installation, part of the "Net Reconfigured" exhibit)
“Breaking Through” is the last step of a journey--and a leap into new territory.
It is about nets, about the way they capture or rein in, and how we can cut through them, and create a new world from the broken pieces. In more general terms it is about confinement and liberation, but also about destruction and reintegration.
After working on the subject of nets in many different ways over the course of the last three years, I felt the urge to literally move into a new space and to take the viewers with me.
The result is an installation consisting of two parts: Hanging from the ceiling, there is an empty frame, which visibly held the imprint of a net painting before it was slashed out, leaving just the bare minimum of it clinging to the stretchers. Some of the pieces, which were cut out, have dropped to the floor others are now “floating freely” on the wall behind it.
The effect goes beyond what I intended: The frame draws you in and as you step up to it, look through it and observe what happens to the pieces on the wall, then walk around it and back, your view seems to expand and your mind becomes engaged. Some people also feel like posing in the frame, adding their own interpretation, testimony to the universality of the subject.
July 2016,
