Five Shadows, 1996

For the maquette of "Tying Line", I worked with plaster and graphite powder, covered with a very thin layer of paraffin wax. Intrigued by the specific qualities of that material - most of all, it seemed to obscure its nature, it was beyond immediate recognition in its substance - I started to think about doing a piece that dealt directly with this quality and yet, would translate this into an investigation in regard to one's own physicality during an encounter.

I started to think about a piece that would work with shadow - a phenomenon that likewise is familiar in its existence, yet is loaded in meaning in connection to a material existence.

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Plaster, graphite, wax (5 parts)
I 62”x 40.5”x 32” (157 x 103 x 82 cm); II 50”x 36”x 25” (127 x 92 x 63 cm);
III 69”x 36”x 21” (175 x 91 x 53 cm); IV 79” x 25”x 20” (200 x 63 x 50 cm);
V 83”x 30” x 25” (210 x 75 x 63 cm)

Shadows are generally connected to something negative - yet they only occur during the positive experience of light. They reveal an object and at the same time obscure it by ignoring details of volume and intensifying and distorting shape. Yet they are more true to reality than reflections because they do not turn things around. They reveal the other side, the duality of being. In connection to human life they are silent but constant followers.

The five "shadows" manifest this complex and obscure nature of our imaginary shadows into real objects, relating in size to the human body and reflecting with their shapes and indefinite volumes human conditions. They are like shells that wait to be filled by the viewer's associations.

The five amorphous forms allude to a certain familiarity. They seem to reference shapes and forms that are familiar, yet appear disparate and distorted - just like two-dimensional shadows. Their formal presence opens up for a new encounter. The exhibition room turns into a space that is unknown and certain at the same time, almost like a dreamscape that shares a real moment with us. The shadows are things that define their own realm and manifest our desire to define a different side that shares with us the space we move in.