Yossi Barel, Sculptor - Israel

The persistent struggle in my sculptural work, in the endless quest for an approach that will express a severance from the irrelevant force of gravity, has brought me to the almost impossible integration of two noble and primary materials, marble and glass, materials which have stood alone since the beginnings of human artistic expression.

In a methodical process of expressing an absence of gravity, or a hovering, I have chosen everyday industrial elements such as axes, hammers, nails, a rifle, a saw and a violin. These are implements known for their use in building, in creation, in destruction and in slaughter. The contrast has created a dialogue which can subsist only in impossible situations -- in a state of hovering. Technical skill and my control of the material have allowed me to implement and to put the three dimensional vision inside me, into a contemporary visual translation.

Canaanite Crankshaft

In my quest for the roots of my personality, I arrived at the diggings of my archaeological life, and from them I have extracted sculptural elements from the archaeological context of our pasts. I have given these a contemporary illumination in these materials, so that if the fossils were found, this is how they would be seen in future times.