Monday, August 20, 2007

TRANSIENCE UNEARTHED

This artwork, which consists of the torso of a kneeling nude woman with planted flowers growing out from her neck, stands at about 214cm x 110cm x 160cm, and is sculpted with the mixture of sand and clay. From the robust nature of her vigorously molded torso and thighs one can correctly assume that this figure belongs to either a fat woman or a woman in the early stages of pregnancy when weight gain becomes inevitable. The sprouting flower growing from her neck however suggests the latter. The figure has a meditative and playful poise and seems to inhibit a kind of surreal eloquence that evokes the impression that it is subtly and silently interacting with the environment in which it is placed. The natural and deliberately unfinished state of the work further reechoes this fact.
The style of the artwork is reminiscent of the ancient Greek style of sculpting their god of beauty Venus. Nevertheless it is fertility and not beauty that is emphasized here. The figure along the lines of its well thought out and stubbornly executed configuration, the masterful combination of earth and plant, mirrors the union, the bond that exists between our inner selves and our heartbeat, the personality and the attitude that is exhibited as a result of that personality. Furthermore, the host of living plants also informs us of the possibility of new life and the transient passage of time.