Artist Statement

If it were ever decided, what the genre of the world was, there is little doubt that water would play a defining role and would outline its features. Thought itself seems to be signified by its liquid form. It is the same with a person's handwriting, emotion and blood. They all bare a certain lucidity and transparency. In rainy days you can place yourself behind a windowpane and realize that your affinity is always with the rain and never with the glass.' (Joseph Brodsky) The exiled Russian poet wrote these verses as part of a long love letter to the city of Venice, often emphasizing its dependency and unique relationship with water. My work process focuses mostly on attempting to tap into a universal, transcendental collective language and look for means to locate its syntax. The purpose of the work, when it is done is to potentially heal or regenerate a connection between an individual and a preexistent and primordial creative aspect. I wish to share basic human experiences while voicing parts that appear in nature and that live within us. In order to do so I represent the subjects of my research and creation by using various, layered mediums. These include creating light objects, editing video components and utilizing various technological elements and at times incorporating performance pieces in order to create a specific space or atmosphere.

The ambition to create a universal language relates to different aspects that appear throughout art history. Varying from the early 20th writing of Kandinsky about the importance of bringing forth harmony through forms, to Gurdjieff's Ideas about 'Objective art' that expresses universal traits and Jung's ideas about abstract art and the way it performs as alchemy because of its ability to change and transform visual materials. These Ideas also appear throughout the60's in many instances such as John Cage's works that correspond with ideas that originate from Zen Buddhism. The connection between art, the body, nature and the potentially healing traits also surface in various instances of artist's that created body art. An example of this sort of mixture of aesthetic and spiritual ideas can be found in the work of artists such as Ketty La Rocca that researched the potential in a creation of a language based on simpler forms, eliminating misunderstanding and the need for translation as well as attempting to return to basic aspects of communication. In my work I try to resonate the rich intertwining relations between art, healing and philosophy and to focus on being. The utilization of space coincides with the perception of the body and movement. It is an aesthetic experience with many subtle nuances but also a wholesome practice that aims to serve and hopefully assist viewers. My pieces attempt to meld together subjective feelings with objective traits that derive from common symbols and convey common basic human experiences.    

 In my video installations and performance pieces I am interested in forming a new sort of space which is transformative and that enables entering a different state of mind, focusing the attention of the viewer inwards. In this sense my work relates to my occupation with alternative medicine, and specifically with methods using water. In both practices I believe that a dialog is essential within the process.  I wish to use these practices to find a harmonic balance that will reach the viewers own world in a constant mindful search for evolution and positive change.      

© Artwork by Tal Eshed all rights reserved