Installation at the Givat Haviva Peace Gallery. Curator: Etty Amram, Osnat Ben Shalom
Between Holy and Secular 2002
The sensitivity and curiosity of the Artist, Svika Altman, made his path cross various cultures. The act of seeking the common, the universal forms and shapes that connect the spiritual and the material in different religions and physical practices is a strong motive in Svika’s art. The artist repetitively uses the same forms to express this.
The repeated form hybridised East and West philosophies, the gothic and gates’ ornaments. Elements that are being displayed in different places around the globe: ornaments, mosques, churches, synagogues.
The phrase in Svika’s installation unites the space, defines boundaries, brings together cultures as well as being a decorative line in the space. The form that is being used in the phrase is like a shape of a gate. A similar gate’s shape exists at the entrance of University Constantin Brâncuşi (Romanian). The sculptures of Brâncuşi has a significant influence on Svika’s art. Svika’s visit to Romanian deepened his appreciation and dialogue with the Romanian artist. The work, “The column with a beginning and an end”, is a tribute to Constantin Brâncuşi.
Robert Smithson’s earthwork sculpture “Spiral Jetty”, 1970, in which he compelled the nature to accept a transformation created by a new element - a pier made of stone and sand inside the water. The shapes of circles and spirals that exist in Svika’s installation reinforce the cyclicality of nature, and the artist believe in things that are beyond comprehension and incarceration. Unlike Smithson, Svika’s work does not force itself on nature, Svika tunes and flow with nature.
The materials chosen are modern polymers (epoxy and polyester), which are daily, industrial materials, yet their quality is in their colours, transparency that reminds the qualities of Amber gemstone and brings together the spirit and the matter.
While giving up on materialism and emphasising the spirit, we move between the “holy and secular”.
Playing with gates 2002
Polyester, sawdust length 20 height 20 depth 2 cm 4 units
Conch on stand, 2001
Epoxy casting and mixed media, diameter 27 cm, height 120 cm
spiral 2002
Epoxy,Iron diameter 100 cm depth 5 cm
A Column with beginning and end 2002
Polyester, sawdust height 270 cm length 27 cm depth 3 cm
placement sight
placement sight
Gates spiral, 2002
Epoxy, diameter 120 cm
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