More concertina works - love this to be in the Tel Aviv show.

I also see a second part to this that follows from the point, either onto the floor or both pieces are attached to the wall:

The piece is around 120cm approx, so with the addition it could easily be 240cm approx....

So here it is:  'Concertina-Torso' - or at least one part of it!!

 

 

 

Some more paper concertina experiments.

The blankness is quite interesting, but I did this purely to see what was possible without wasting printer ink!

With other images the dynamic will change. Perhaps the sculptural side to the pieces alongside the columns experiments could afford this contrast...

   

 

 

 

 

Interesting site that looks at new directions of sculpture.

Some ideas (but not all ) that have a similar feel to the paper concertina columns (see the images below) that have recently emerged for Phase 2 of the project for Tel Aviv.

http://www.modernedition.com/art-articles/new-sculpture/new-contemporary-sculpture.html

I rather like Alice Channer's 'Body Back' concertina work along with others.

 

 

New Experiments for the Tel Aviv show at Alfred Gallery. More to come, but a sculptural/object theme is emerging:

 

          

 

 

 

A new independent piece  'Apparition'  from a small series called 'Suture' (meaning to stitch up a wound; or a meeting of margins) - that I'd like to exhibit for Part 1 of MM1 (and hopefully Part 2 !! ) and follows on from some of the work I created using the Christ figure from Piero della Francesca's Polytych 'Misericordia' - would make an interesting and unique tattoo !

 

 

 

Woh Avi ! That's rather unsettling! In a way a little too much but interesting all the same. Nice to see my original 'Double Butt Pixel' (2001), a grafted and woven photographic piece, when I was suffering from a severe lower back injury 'manipulated'...

 

 

 

A woven merger of my image of Leigh Bowery and Avi's image of the Eagle - woven printed papers......  I like the way the horizontal strips started to warp or mis-shape themselves in the process.

This was taken quickly, so the colours are distorted/not true, due to the poor light when I documented it. It has become an alter ego of it's "two-selves"

 

 

 

Avi, I love your eagle. It's wings look like shoulder pads, and are very abstract in their construction as feathers, they look more like an adornment, some kind of 'outfit' or even armour... Almost detached from it's neck and head? Quite feminine it it's demeanour, but also strong and distinct at the same time. I chose to add this image of Leigh Bowery in one of his famous costumes. I particularly like the shoulder pads, but my favourite part of the costume is the  head wear - the obscurity and ambiguity of a ruffled globe changes the dynamic and plays with the real sexuality of the character. He was known for his outrageous androygyny.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A creation of my own, from a small series of Untitled drypoints with monoprint... similarities to the Louise Bourgeois

drawing below and extremely loose associations or links to the markings of cave drawings of prehistoric ships.

 

Drawing for Bourgeois is a 'seismograph of her thoughts. Bourgeois says:

 

"When I draw it means that something bothers me, but I don't know what it is. So it is the treatment of anxiety. The abstract

drawings come from a deep need to achieve peace, rest and sleep. They relate to unconscious memories.....

... an overcoming of negative memory, the need to 'erase' and get rid of it".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avi, are these Prehistoric  Scandinavian??..... Beautiful shapes, lines and markings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working on a project for the The Wing Assignment  http://www.thewingassignment.com/welcome, and have created a winged figure, a shrouded/hooded wing figure.

I just couldn't resist strapping Christ to the form! 

 

 

Hey Avi,

Long time no speak! How are things? I have been busy with other projects, trying to meet deadlines, so no further progress with MM1. So just to keep the ball rolling and add to the project, I offer this image that I played around with sometime ago when we were editing each others Christ and St. John images. I was going to post this but wasn't sure about it at the time. Anyway, here is.... as you can see it still has the phallus very much present!

 

Cos it's too big ! In this case it's not good :-) can you upload a smaller image? looks interesting... Sharon

 

........ Sharon/Avi - Can you see me know?...

 

 

 

In her biography: Mapplethorpe, Patricia Morrisroe comments on Man in Polyester Suit:

 

"Robert Mapplethorpe found "god" in a gay bar called Sneakers one drizzly September evening in 1980 after leaving Keller's [a former S& M bar that was now a gathering place for men interested in biracial sex]. Robert Mapplethorpe saw Milton Moore (who posed for a series of his photographs, including Man in a Polyester Suit) pacing up and down West Street, and was instantly transfixed by his beautiful face and forlorn stare. Mapplethorpe invited Moore to his apartment. Upon learning of his ambition to become a model, Mapplethorpe agreed to create a portfolio. Mapplethorpe's motives were mixed -- he was smitten.

 

Morrisroe continues:

 

"Mapplethorpe's love / obsession for Moore reached its fullest expression in the photograph some consider his masterpiece -- Man in Polyester Suit. . . He cropped the photograph at Moore's neck according to his agreement [with Moore], but by isolating the genitals he seemed to to be pandering to the notion that blacks existed only as sex objects. 'Mapplethorpe signals unambiguously that we are here to inspect: the body is its own unapologetic event. Accordingly, we have no sense of an attempted mediation between Sex and Art -- the aesthetic object is the sexual object, and vice versa."

 

In response to aesthetic object as sexual object and vice versa, I have created 'Priapus in Polyester Suit'

 

 

 

 

 

one of my prefered photogrpahies ever ! because its criticism is so far away from the picturial representation...nice trunc! Sharon

 

 

 

AVI, I CAN SEE IT !!!! I love what you have done. I also love the story of this flower, very appropriate to the 'change' element of this project, changing the penis into a willow flower in your piece.

 

"Let there be gardens fragrant with saffron flowers to invite them, and let the watchman against thieves and birds, guardian Priapus, lord of the Hellespont, protect them with his willow hook." (Virgil, Georgics 4.111).

 

You are right that Priapus - Πρίαπος is more relevant, with his huge virile cock, so enormous that it has been called a column, twelve inch pole and other such names as they refer to the dimensions of his penis. Priapus is a god of fertility, protector of horticulture and viticulture. His statue, holding a wooden sickle in his hand, was used in the Roman gardens as a scarecrow, and his enormous penis as a threat against thieves. It is his weapon and why his parts are always shamelessly displayed

 

I found these images, I haven't doctored them, but using them as reference to the recent images that we have been creating... one is an image of Priapus and the other is Mapplethorpe's 'Man in a Polyester Suit' - I like the two together, they seem to play off each other, These two appear side by side in a book published by Taschen called Homo Art

 

A final image I found surfing the internet is a statue of Priapus, quite amazing and extremely funny.

 

 

            

 

 

can you see the image now?

 

 i found this new way of working rather pleasurable and intresting so i made a new piece: i really wanted to use the penis but i decided to transform it into a willow flower.

when we were in London we went to the flower market and Dana our friend fell in love with this flower. when we bought it the flowers were closed - they were white and hanging upsidown on the willow sticks. the day after they opened and turned yellow. it looked completely different. 

 

i realised maybe more relevent to the work you posted is Priapus - the son of Aphrodite cursed by hera to be ugly (punishment for losing the beauty contest). in ancient greek a big penis was considered vulgar - it needed to be proportional (Apollonian) a big one made you belong to the Dionysian side - wild beastly and uncivilised ...

 

 

 

the god of gods fell in love with a Friegie,

Ganymede his name. An image he found for his figure (for he did not like to appear as himself).

A bird of prey will replace him, one of eminence that will be able to hold his staff of thunder.

Quickly, on false wings he descended and took hold of the son of troy.

Nectar of gods he will pour to the father of all,

evermore, he will serve him despite the queen's wishes.

 

Ovid (personal translation)

 

 

 

LOL!!!!!!!!!!! Nice, nice nice!!!!!! It is my version (with the inclusion of Avi's additional imagery from his 'St. John's') of the Anatomy for Divine Worship

 

Like Like Like!

 

The other piece that I was working on, would have been the piece I submitted first.

Here it is anyway. In some ways I prefer it....

Sunny greetings from London! Cos

 

 

 

Ha, ha!!! Avi, very astute!

 

"And godlike Ganymede, most beautiful

Of men; the gods beheld and caught him up

To heaven, so beautiful was he, to pour

The wine to Jove, and ever dwell with them."

                                                                 Homer (Bryant's tr.).

 

hi cos,

what a funny and smart piece :)

the ganymedes phallos if im not mistaken, later turned into the boy zeus kiddnaps (by transforming into an eagle) and becomes his tool bearer. a nice analogy - jeasus being kiddnaped to heaven  -  a sexy idea :)

 

Ok, here is something I've been working on. I have a number of version with this being the most recent in the series. I am getting used to working with photoshop which is still new to me as a tool, and quite loving it. As you can see I have used the image I manipulated for the first experiment, shown here in full. I have embellished a brain; the decapitated head from your collage for the head on this Christ.

I have also pasted the image of an ancient Greek phallus behind Christ, he seems to be sitting on it, quite sexually charged, with the face displaying what seems to be pleasure, ecstasy, but in fact is pain or agony. The Agony & the Ecstasy

 

 

 

wow what a build-up .   cant wait to hear

Guys,

It's so interesting to see, at each project, when you have a click between two artists, it shows immediately ! Great.

Soon, with Nimi we will share a great news for all of us....

sharon

 

Avi, I agree that the experimental stage is so interesting, that it seems too soon to talk about this. I'd like to share something else very soon, it is still in the process of manipulation, but in the same vain as the two we have produced.

Cos

 

lets not put the works in an exhibital mood so fast I'm enjoying the freedom of expirement. we'll think of the rest when time comes who knows maybe we will print it and keep working on it - its still hanging in the air and i kind of like this stage for now. 

Avi

 

Hey Guys, Yes, Avi is right, same with my image, but lets give it a go and see what happens. It would be interesting to see them in print!

Cos

 

hay guys,

i think there will not be a problem to print them. the only thing is that the image quality is limited because ive used found images from the net, we can try and see

Avi

 

Sharon!

Its nice to have your feedback and enthusiasm in our collaboration.I have really taken to medieval art quite recently and love mixing and altering things. This phase has really lent itself to this process of change.

I think both Avi and myself have really clicked with each other and it is showing in the works we are creating and the thoughts we are sharing. I was privileged to meet Avi and Matan on their trip to London when he had his interview at RCA. I would have no objections, and if Avi is in agreement, to have the works printed.... what did you have in mind? Do you want them printed for the end of the project/exhibition?

Cheers, Cos

 

 

Avi and Cos,

Your joint work is really interesting. I like your cooperation, combining medieval with contemporary spirit.

DO you think we could print some of these works at the end?

Sharon

 

 

 

Avi,

 

WOW! This is really amazing, I love that you did something in the same spirit. They seem to work well with each other.

Thanks for your wonderful comment, very pleased that you liked it so much.  Did you feel that you weren't able to add anything further or manipulate it? I know that when I did the first 'operation' of altering its appearance, I wasn't happy with the changes I was making, and than suddenly remembered about all the subjects and images that we'd previously been discussing and found this image in my little archive. It just seems to fit perfectly. I used a section of the image...  The only problem is that I can't remember where I found. It is a panel from a Polytych of the 'Misericordia' by Piero della Francesca.

The eyes I added are from a series of works I made called 'Altered State'.

 

I don't use photoshop that much, so it has been a great experiment for me!  I wanted to be a little more hands on with my creation, and guess to some extent I have been, but in a way that is quite alien to me. I will next time! I've started to manipulate other images and hope to post these soon. 

 

I liked your idea of making an actual 'live' piece, I wonder what it would be like to touch it?.........  

 

 

 

 

hi cos

i was thinking of making an actual piece - a live one that you can touch - but after seeing the amazing work you did i decided to try one in the same spirit:

i give you st. Johns - im also not use to work with photoshop in this way - but i gave it a try

hope you like it.

 

 

 

At long last, here is my contribution to Phase 2 of MM1 - I would have done something a little more hands on, but as I don't use photoshop or digital ways in which to manipulate, I thought I'd give it a go. I guess when it comes to manipulation,  I'm a little "old school" in that respect!

 

Avi, it was really really great meeting you during your visit to London, I just wished that I could have spent a little more time with you, it has been a busy time this last week, but being able to see you at Nimrod's gallery with Matan, and meeting with you both yesterday with my partner Barrie for a long chat over a glass of wine was an absolute treat

 

 

I have returned to researching the image I posted of the white beast that I thought was a greyhound, then a Unicorn.

 

I have since found out that it is the emblem of a White Hart (a female deer)- The outside bears Richard's arms and his personal emblem of a white hart chained with a crown around its neck - the missing part of the painting. It is Egg tempera on Oak and dates from 1395-1399. It is called the Wilton Diptych. The 'Wilton Diptych' was painted as a portable altarpiece for the private devotion of King Richard II, who ruled England from 1377 to 1399. The diptych is thought to have been made in the last five years of Richard's reign, although its artist remains unknown. It is called The Wilton Diptych because it came from Wilton House in Wiltshire, the seat of the Earls of Pembroke.

 

Here are some links to the piece:

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/english-or-french-the-wilton-diptych

 

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/english-or-french-the-wilton-diptych/*/viewReverse/1

 

 

Avi, this is fascinating myth, as the only reference I could find (it could be a bad translation) was that the re'em was a wild mountain bull with large horns, and not 'the size of a mountain' !

I was going to add images I found of the maiden and the unicorn (the more I searched for Unicorns, the more tacky and fairytale the search became, so I shall stay with the Tudor tapestry images)

I think I read somewhere that the oryx, when seen from the side shows only one horn, making it look like the mythical beast. I think that the Oryx is the symbol used for Qatar Airways??

 

I am still pondering over your experiment - I will in time have something to say, but in the meantime, the artist Martin Creed did this which has reminded me of your experiment.

 

Work No. 88 - A sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball, 1995, A4 paper

 

You can see more of Creed's work here:

http://www.martincreed.com/site/works/work-no-88

 

 

 

 

just for now - ther e'em exists - it also appears in mesopotamian relifs

i also know its scull is used in shamanic rituals in africa and also in arab mysticism during the middle ages  and that its horns were being shipped to europe as unicorn horns

i found the ancient jewish myth about the re'em (its probably easier to find in hebrew)   so the re'em is a huge beast the size of a mountain. each eara there are only 2 one male and one female. one lives in the east and the other in the west. they meet every 70 years to mate and during their mating the femail drules and her seliva waters the surrounding fields. after this they part and rejoin 70 years later.   the "midrash" - jewish oral tradition  claims that king david met one on his way to find the other.

 

 

Oh my God!!!!

Are we connected or what??? You freak me out but also it is no surprise to me that we are so in tune with each other!

I never knew this fact about the myth of the Unicorn coming to virgin maidens and the active passiveness surrounding this myth. I look forward to this next image, perhaps we will both find the same image, who knows? After a search, I found some info - One traditional method of hunting unicorns involved entrapment by a virgin. In one of his notebooks Leonardo da Vinci wrote:

"The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it".

 

Another interesting fact that I found was a biblical reference - An animal called the re'em (Hebrew: רְאֵם‎) is mentioned in several places in the Hebrew Bible often as a metaphor representing strength. The translators of the Authorised King James Version has a quite unfortunate translation of this beats as a"wild ox" with horns. This view is supported by the Assyrian rimu, which is often used as a metaphor of strength, and is depicted as a powerful, fierce, wild mountain bull with large horns. This animal was often depicted in ancient Mesopotamian Art in profile, with only one horn visible, hence the Unicorn. 

Is this something along the lines of what you were talking about?..... I think it best to let you to find the next image..

 

 

 

NO SHIT!!!

i was going to upload this image!!!

the mith of the unicorn is that it comes to virgin maidens when they are alone and puts its head on their lap - i have been thinking about the active - passive  part of this mith the fact that you need to do nothing in order to recieve a miricale ..     now i have to find the next image :)

 

Hey Avi, Well, I've been so occupied lately that I haven't had time to contribute to our conversation. I have finally finished changing my studio around for a new period of work, and can at last, say something about your recent posts.

 

I agree with the way in which Perry  approaches medieval diptychs and christian images and figures, and the way in which you how have juxtaposed it with Giotto's fresco. Could it have been something that was beneath the surface that has now obviously eroded and created this surreal frame?? I love the missing parts too, it seems to fit the image so perfectly, almost as if it were executed on purpose. Of course, time and erosion has taken it to this state, but, what a beautiful state - an alchemical state that has enriched the image and give an extra dimension to the fresco as it hovers around St. Francis and his devotees.

Some of the missing parts have become masks (like that on the central monk figure) or are like aura's that either surround, obscure or cover the figures. It gives far more focus on St. Francis and this whole central part of the fresco. Quite ironic.

 

Your missing parts image reminded me of a postcard image I have in my studio. It sits together with other postcards and images on my desk - I see it almost everyday!...it also has missing parts to the painting. I am afraid I am not sure who created this. It is quite beautiful how the greyhound's head just floats above its body, with the obvious marking of where a collar once was... even some of it's body parts, such as it's ear, is missing or faded away. The greyhound is known to be a Royal heraldic beast, and dates as far back as the House of Tudor, to King Henry VII (1485–1509). There is a serenity and purity in this image, the ivory white of the greyhound is quite elegant.... or is it a greyhound? - could it be a Unicorn?It is probably because some of th images with Unicorns, include images of greyhound being attacked.

 

This does actually put me in mind of The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestries - Based on a set of 7 Medieval tapestries which tell the story of The Hunt of the Unicorn, they also contain a hidden meaning which can be 'read' as both a religious story and as a Medieval love story. The seven Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries were originally designed to be hung in order around a room. When this new set is complete, they will be displayed in the Queen's Lodgings in the Palace, as it may have looked in the 1500s. Each tapestry has taken 3 years to weave!  I studied my textile degree with one of the team members, Louise Martin, who has been working on the set.

You can see more about these here>> The Hunt of The Unicorn Tapestries  - the second image I have included is known as "The Unicorn in Captivity"

 

After all this time spent looking at missing part in paintings etc. I still need time to comment on your experiment... I will get back to you...

 

 

                  

 

 

 

ok

so after we talked about alchemy and sacred objects i have started a series of tests in the studio

so i bring to you the most favourable failure.. but im getting there..

this is a cast that i couldnt extract     i plan to do some more in different scale. this one is small - 15cm   lets See where it goes

 

 

 

hay

it is a really interesting ineruption   i dont know him but now after a quick look at his work im very intrigued

his alter ego looks amazing  and completes his work wonderfully !

its funny to see his approach to diptychs and christian medeval positioning of images and figures - playfull and whitty.

 

i found an interesting work by giotto i would like to share.  i have been looking at for the last couple of days i especially love the missing parts of the fresco that fit in such an ironic way.

like hovering structure, or eyefold or thinking bubbles   and the way all the men are kissing and adoring him -  checking his stigmata - which is also a kind of metamorphosis - as we were talking of alchemy. i find the layer without paint interesting by itself - like the painting's stigmata.

 

abour gideon gechtman his work from the 70s is usually read as conseptual body art and accuse him for being too biographical but i think that when you see his later work you start to understand there is more to it.

since you posted the urin in the snow casts i have been wondering how were the casts made because almoast any material that hardens quickly gets hot - thus melts the snow

or its water based and that gets mixed with it.. maybe thats part of the magic - it sounds simple to do but its not - and the outcome is very suprising.

 

so today i post only one pic but i think i might share photos of an experiment im doing in the studio this week (only if it works) :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Sharon, I am sure that Avi would like Perry's work too, though they are more interesting when seen in real life than images on a screen or even in a book. I remember watching the Turner Prize announcement that Perry had won, and I think he said 'At last a transvestite potter wins the prize'.... I think his work is so strong due to this 'other world' in which he and his chararcters live.

Thanks also for your comments regarding the charge in my own work, I try to put as much charge into the work without it being overloaded with messages and leaving things out whilst keeping the mystery, allowing you to question and delve in. I am currently working towards building a new body of work which I hope will have as much, if not more sexual charge, but presented in a new way.

I hope to hear from Avi on these recent developments and interjection in our exchange!

 

Thank you dear Cos to this very complete introduction. yes indeed his work is very charged but yours as well.

I wonder if Avi would like his work as well?

 

Hi Sharon,

Good to hear from you.

GREAT interruption!!! I know Grayson Perry's work very well. I went to his latest exhibition The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsmen at The British Museum and have seen other works at Manchester Art Gallery.

His work is very dark with a huge sexual charge. I am flattered that his work reminds you of my own!!! He is of course far more prolific in his career and a lot more bold with his subjects of sex and sexuality.

He is a fascinating artist and person, especially his transvestite alter ego 'Claire' - he recently came out as Claire and makes a great number of references to her in the works. He also makes the same number of references to his childhood bear 'Alan Measles' who he holds as his god and father figure in this intriguing world he narrates. He is best known for his ceramic vases, although he does create and produce his works in the form of iron sculpture, tapestries and etchings. I have posted some examples of his work.

Thank you for this Sharon, I am sure this will add to our exchange!

 

 

                     

 

Hey guys sorry to interrupt your very interesting exchange, but I suggest both of you to see the owrk of Grayson Perry ! you will love it (it reminds me a little of your works Cos). Maybe you know him already?

Cheers

sharon

 

 

Avi, I have to admit that I was not aware of Gideon Gechtman, so I am pleased that you have drawn my attention to his work. I had to Google his work and there is quite a lot of it!!! They are all very interesting works. I would not have known that the materials/objects he uses are actually manufactured, in a rather funny way he operates like an undertaker, providing head stones for graves to commemorate the dead. I came across these and others that intrigued me, especially the way he used his own body in his series 'Exposure', depicted in a series of large photographs. (Yes, I realise, I have come back to the figure…. Can’t help it!!)

 

In the first, he stands completely naked, with his arms raised (perhaps hinting at crucifixion?) Parts of his body are seen in different stages of shaving. The last photograph, the first scene returns, except that now he is completely shaved, his head, his eyebrows, his armpits and his pubis. A ritual or a rite perhaps?The way in which he composed the figure brought to mind the installation series ‘Ego Geometria Sum’ & ‘The Labours’ (1982-86) by Helen Chadwick.  Pieces of plywood are worked into a diversity of sculptural forms that simulate symbols of childhood such as incubators, fonts, prams, beds etc. Plywood is then photosensitised and large photographs representing Chadwick’s nude body in a diversity of poses are printed directly into it. The body is not exactly encased; it is pasted on the surface, losing all volume and depth, dimensionality and solidity, becoming a mere trace within the ‘structure,’ a part of the wood’s grain. It is almost as if Chadwick has pasted on the skin from her own body to these geometric structures. 

 

Staying with Chadwick for a moment; The image by Gechtman with the urns and gold vases on the corners of the green square, are very brutal visuals, something he demands you to see, as you said in your write up.  This piece immediately reminded me of her works 'Piss Flowers’. Chadwick urinated in deep snow, then made casts of the interior spaces – instant caves – melted in the snow by the warm liquid. The resulting white forms of bronze and cellulose lacquer look like fungal eruptions, composed into these pseudo flowers with unnatural growths. Although her works don’t represent death like Gechtman’s obviously do, there is some kind of ritual alchemy going on where the piss hits the snow and melts it, registers the meeting between body fluid and the state of atmosphere.

 

The other images I have posted (John Coplans and Scot Hornby, alongside my own piece from 2001 ‘Foreign Body Unknown’) are pieces that came to mind as I was researching. They all have ways in which the figure has been altered, manipulated or fragmented, taking them out of there usual context and placing them in some sort of new environment. Physical alchemy. Transformers.

 

 

                                                                

 

 

                                            

 

 

               

 

 

 

 

 

hey,

i dont know these works by gormley    they are amazing! especially the one where he shifts the perspective. with the black triangle. it seems like a spotlight which covers more than show.

the thought of him being an alchemist is intresting . i often find myself trying to be one (or at least approach art in that way) 

for some reason, unclear to me, i keep having an israeli artist in mind - Gideon Gechtman -  you probably dont know him but he is a really good artist (already dead)

he deals a lot with death and the objects we use to place around it , commemorate it or represent it. he made installations using these objects but they are all fake or hand made - what looks like marble is pvc and the urns are made of mdf - this is a pointing finger at israeli culture. but what made me think of him is that he is constantly trying to represent death.    so in one sense he is like the alchemist making lead into gold (or look a like) and in another sense represent the surrounding of a place where a reliquary might be placed. he doesnt change the objects themselves  like gormley, but  the enviournment, the place or location.    the peacock looks like one in a nature museum but through his body of work and context it gets a new meaning.      now after looking more at the pictures i noticed that they are made to be seen - there is nothing hidden in them, while in thek's picture and gormley's works there is a lot hidden covered or unshown.

i think there is allways something sexual about covering or unshowing - something teasy     i think it might be also the case with the reliquaries.    i remember seeing an amazing reliquary in Berlin, it was a head and the eyes were embedded with crystal so you are suppose to see the bones or scull through the eyes - this sounds great only its dark inside so you cant see anything - so you have the possibility to look but you cant see.   i thought it was an amazing manipulation. it made me feel like i was going to see something magical but i found myself only more intrigued - like in thek's masturbating photo.

 

 

untitled.bmp

 

 

 

Hey Avi, It does seem that we have similar/common interests.

 

I agree with you that Thek's Warrior Arm doesn't befit a warrior, it's too delicate, fragile, almost feminine. However, it does fit in with the concept of the reliqaury, as some of these body-part reliquaries often held bones of saints, others held parts of different apostles or saints, so in a way Thek's take on a reliquary could in fact be holding his own arm in the container of a different saint or in this case a warrior. The piece does symbolise a personal struggle, perhaps with his identity... or his masculinity?

 

I love the photos you found of him, I especially like the one of his limbs cut, definitely a sexual metaphor - it's an intriguing photographic image, his limbs seem unnatural, almost fused to his body, leading through the body and connecting or growing out the other side. Cutting the image at the sexual zone adds further intrigue, willing us to want to see what he is doing, and denying the sexual act at the same time. It creates a tension.

 

This and the other image of the alchemist and his subjectled me onto works that Antony Gormley, created in the late 90's. He made a series of 43 collages, assembled from postacrds, newsprint, and photogrpahs. Additional drawing was executed in charcoal, pencil or pigment. He described the character of the series as 'loose assemblies making loose associations' - themes include male perception, the disembodied brain, body-space and the second skin.

 

The second skin in these two works I have included are represented by the use of PVA glue, and look a little like ghostly aura's, The first 'Male Perception' makes reference and pays homage to Andrea Mantegna's 'Lamentation of the Dead Christ' (c.1490), the aura concealing Christ's head, a black strip concealing, yet pronouncing his genitals. The second 'Astronauts' is some kind of outer body experience, with the disembodied brain, the upper body, genital area and head shrouded. In a way Gormley has become the alchemist in his pieces where he use of pigments and other chemical like substances has altered the discourse of the original and exist in their new imagined landscape/environment.

 

 

 

 

 

hay, it seems we have some common interests :)

i didn't know about the Whitney watch and listen, its a great site i kept watching more artists talk afterwards.

this sculpture is fascinating, also because the hand itself has a soft feel about it, its a rather beautiful hand - doesn't seem to belong to a warrior.

i knew a little about his meat pieces but totally forgot about him.  so i googled him and came across 2 beautiful photos  of him (taken by his partner) he was very handsome!

in the 2 photos it looks like something mideavel   in one his limbs are cut (maybe sexual metaphor- he is masturbating) and in the other he plays the part of an alchemist..  

it reminds me of this image i found 3 years ago which shows an alchemist kneeling / praying in despair ( i also love the absolute perspective)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, great shot in the dark!.. this amazing. So here is the next stage to our 'visual ping pong'....

 

Rather beautiful.  Reliquaries are containers, carriers, or vessel if you like,  created to hold religious objects, particularly of saints. They are beautifully works of art in their own right, and often depict the relic that they contain. This one is particularly  interesting that it almost dripping in rings.  Its adornment is intriguing as is its relic mystery it holds.. Aside from the religious connotations, as a body part, it has become abstracted, almost exaggerated in its length; monumental.

 

These reliquary belong to a class of objects often referred to as body-part, shaped, or dubbed as "speaking" reliquaries, their speech, complex metaphors

 

It put me in mind of the sculptor, painterPaul Thek, who cast parts of his body, and the image I have added is his Warrior’s Arm, 1967, from the series Technological Reliquaries(Also know as the Meat Pieces). A different type of reliquary, another adorned arm, where the armour becomes the container for the arm. Thek said that this armour was a metaphor for his own struggles, so this arm is a personal reliquary. Here is a small audio link to this other works in the series: http://whitney.org/WatchAndListen/Artists?context=Artist&context_id=3508&play_id=205

 

Not sure if this fits, so let me know your thoughts..

 

 

 

 

OK, a shot in the dark:

this is a reliquary of an unidentified apostle. i think its a strange enough image to start with :)

i have been thinking a lot about this object - first the representation of what is inside - its quite literal but haunting at the same time ( i think) and i also find objects which are suppose to have spetial powers interesting.

i thought it being a body part may be of some interest to you too - i also love how its covered with rings

i know its a religious artifact but i think we can relate to its essence being a preservation canister, a representation, a body part and an object of desire .. and leave the religion out :)   

(i hope my fascination of it is not the cause of this object being exotic for me)

let me know what you think..

 

 

 

so we have decided (via skype) to do a kind of ping pong - one of us puts up an image or text and the other replies. we will see how it goes..

 

 

great!

 

Hi Avi,

Good to hear from you. Sounds like you've been busy.

I've been a little unwell but getting better now, so tomorrow is fine for me to skype, perhaps sometime in the afternoon, around 2pm my time?

I will be online and if you're around, we'll chat!!! Thanks for the link, I will take a proper look in the morning, but from what I've seen, it looks very interesting.

Speak soon, Cos

 

 

im adding a link to a performance i did with orr herz in bezalel, it was the end of a collaboration similar to this..   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwL0YcYp4No&feature=related

 

hi, Ive been in Jerusalem for the last 2 days away from a computer.

lets meet on skype tomorrow if you have some time

 

hi cos,

after sitting in front of this page for some time, i dont really know how to start

so i think maybe something green that dont mean any thing might be nice..

lets meet on skype

my skype name is akritzman