This piece of work talks about human relationships and communication. They are the bronze casts of the empty space of the handshake with ten different people.
Each one is unique. Life-lines, fingers and rings are imprinted on the metal from both sides, the mass is either bigger or smaller, according to the persons' hands in contact.
A handshake represents the first meeting between two people.
It is a sign of respect, formality, politeness, gratitude, honour.
With a handshake we understand traits of the others' personality.
It reveals their character, will, emotion, strength or lack of courage, fear or diffidence.
It all started when, making small clay blocks - to break through my creative blockage, I intuitively shaped the gap in-between my hand. Fingers and life-lines were amazingly marked on that clay form, which was nothing more than the negative space of my grip.
Grips, bronze, sculpture, dim. varied, 300gr each approx. 2018
The Mound, land art installation and video, dim. 500x200x300cm approx,2018
In my previous work, I dig the earth to create a literal and metaphorical
comparison of the produced positive and negative space, which I call The Mound.
Then, I take casts of the hole, which is the negative, to use as the positive sculpture. (more)
The positive and negative forms are used to create spaces that host the human body: The Font and The Umbilical Cords. (follow links for info)
I used soil, clay and plaster to create these smaller and larger vessel - like moulds, with references to the soil - clay as the body and the Font - plaster as the home, respectively.
From places where the human body and soul is placed in, here, I search the opposite:
invisible spaces that the body contains as a gap: the negative space of the body in certain bends, twists or contact with another body.
The personal space of The Font turned to a dual in-between space of contact.
The fact of being enclosed evolved to the act of enfolding.
The internal space is having a communication with the external space and vice versa.
The work developed from body casts of my body to life-size casts of the invisible space between two bodies.
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What is the shape of this space?
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What is its volume of the in-between void?
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How close or distant are the people to one another?
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What is the capacity of that space?
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How honest is their intercommunication?
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What are the barriers to communication between us?
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Why do they exist and when are they apparent?
On the other hand, plaster is always used as the preferable material for the positive result in both previous and current works, likewise, soil - clay - body are used as the same matter that formes the borders and limits of the researched space.
"Dark matter is a theorised form of matter that is believed to account for approximately 80% of the matter in the universe, and about a quarter of its total energy density....The name dark matter refers to the fact that it does not appear to interact with observable electromagnetic radiation, such as light, and is thus invisible (or 'dark') to the entire electromagnetic spectrum, making it extremely difficult to detect using usual astronomical equipment... - Wikipedia.
The work of the “Space In Between” talks about the acknowledgement of our external space which consequently leads to the awareness of our inner being.
It refers to the other side of the very same reality, the creation and revelation of the former via the work and its mass.
Successively, the pieces give a hint to the co-creation of another new reality, where two individuals share the same space. One that preexists in theory via communication, contact, relationship - not just in an erotic way, but in the wider sense of a meditative connection.
The two life-size sculptures, The Void/Friendship and The Dark Matter/ Hug are greatly anthropomorphic.
Even if they shape the empty space between two human bodies, simultaneously they emphasise their absence.
The form outlines one figure created by gap that lies within two people.
To my surprise, the sculptures, bring about notions of a headless and limbless body. Association with the classical Greek or Roman works of art, such as the Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, a marble Hellenistic sculpture of Niki.
Collaboration with my dear friends
Johanna Badjan de Junnemann and Simone Almond, without whom whom the piece would have been produced. I am mostly gratefully.
The Void, Friendship
Space In Between aims to clarify the individual and personal being- internal space- through the comprehension of the exterior territorial space and its borders.
Subsequently, with this work, I aim to break down and expand the borders of personal space. If this is achieved, the limits of individual space start to mutate and stretch.
Two people's personal margins transgress, consolidate and reform their dimensions, those of the two individuals placed one against the other.
Collaboration with my dear friend
Johanna Badjan de Junnemann, whom I gratefully thank.
Personal Negative Space
This group of works presents the constructed empty space between parts of my body in certain positions.I was influenced by the yoga philosophy of external-internal space and balance and the allowance of space within that aims with the everyday practice.
Each posture derives from an ancient stories that describes the wisdom, knowledge, forgiveness and mastery of the hero.
The full forward bend was the first attempt of the series with yoga poses. Afterwards, followed the works Half Spinal Twist, Total Spinal Twist, Perfect Pose (two trials), Inverse Turtle Pose.
My intention was to shape the space between my body and other objects; using a pilates ball I wanted to shape the Full Backward Bend.
plus procedure of casting
plus procedure of casting
The sculptural artefacts generate a bone like impression, unable to be attributed either to a human or animal, or any particular era.
They share elements of the past and the present due to their shape and colour. The past is also magnified by the white material of the objects, the cracks and the intentioned discolouration of the plaster, in certain points.