Click on
image to enlarge
Strophe, 1998, iron.
50 X 45 cm. |
Hoshen, 1998, iron.
40 X 34 5 cm. |
Ship, 2000, iron.
60 X 32 X 10 cm. |
To the Sea, 2002,
iron and paint.
60 X 26 X 3 cm. |
Sambateon, 2001,
iron.
114 X 50 X 34 cm. |
Circles, 2001, iron.
80 X 50 X 30 cm. |
Untitled , 2000,
iron.
60 X 35 X 20 cm. |
Untitled , 2000,
iron.
60 X 30 X 8 cm. |
Metamorphosis, 2002,
iron.
30 X66 X 15 cm. |
Lilith, 2000, iron.
60 X 27 X 8 cm. |
Untitled, 2000, Iron.
Diameter 60 cm. |
Torn from the Depth,
2002, iron.
70 X 40 X 27 cm.
|
Click
on image to enlarge
No name, 1997,
steel.
Height 50 cm.
|
Irit Israeli's
choice of iron as her sculptural material is anything
but accidental. This fundamental material captured her
heart both because of its primacy - it being one of the
most widespread of the elements, and because of the qualities
it reveals during the process of oxidation that it undergoes,
and which provides the finished product with a dynamic
life of its own. The factor of time does not allow the
color tones of the work to be finally determined, thus
creating the tension of anticipation while the character
of the work is being crystallized - the work in effect
continuing to be created after the final touch.
The sculptures of Irit Israeli are graced with the
feminine touch, this in opposition to the works of iron
that are familiar to us, done by those called "iron
workers", who deal with great masses of the material
and whose works are denoted "male sculpture"
in art history. Her awareness of the limitations of
her physical strength does not detract at all from her
passion to create using hard iron. She solved the synthesis
between the two with technical means - the cutting and
take to pieces of steel pipes and the welding of the
pieces into sculptural shapes. In her case the technical
solution produced a personal sculptural language whose
images spring from the local landscape rooted in her
soul, from the Bible and Jewish writings and from the
stories of her childhood and youth. The components of
the cultural baggage assimilated into her consciousness
merge with the elements of her autobiography scorched
into the iron with hot fire.
The borders of Irit Israeli's sculpture re-cross the
processes of disassembly and building. By sisyphic work
she demolishes the essence of the steel, emphasizes
the qualities of its texture and reveals the range of
the characteristics of the material during its transformation.
This is the case with the series of small wall sculptures
that were constructed from small pieces of iron welded
to iron surfaces of different textures -- the source
of these works coming from the realm of word association,
idiomatic phrases and private and collective memories.
Here also each work stands on its own, although one
group of works within the series makes a broad and well-formulated
statement, assembled from nuances distilled into a structured
sculptural language.
From creation to creation Irit Israeli's language takes
shape. Each work is a product of its predecessor, of
the consequences and conclusions that it prompted. Her
series of works should not be seen as variations on
a theme, but as a development, an improvement and a
new departure out into space each time that bits of
iron are joined together in a new order.
Hanna Koffler, curator.
|
Contact
Irit Segal Israeli for more information: 23 Leah Goldberg
Street, Haifa
Tel: 972-4- 8343401 Fax: 972-4- 8341092 Cellular: 972-505-524903
E-mail iritisra@actcom.co.il
|
|