EXHIBITIONS
Finds taken for wonders | 2023 | Installation View
Piero Atchugarry Gallery is pleased to announce Finds Taken For Wonders, the debut solo-exhibition in our Miami Survey of newly represented South African artist Chris Soal.
Finds Taken For Wonders brings together key concerns in the artist’s sculptural practice, inviting viewers to reconsider their perceptual biases while challenging societal assumptions of value. Soal’s works poetically contain a deep longing to expose the destructive relationship between humankind and nature by engaging the viewer’s spatial awareness of their own body in relation to the monumental organic forms that shape these large-scale sculptures.
Through his use of discarded and mundane ephemera, Soal’s work intuitively develops the familiar to the point of the uncanny. Using conventional mass-produced objects such as beer bottle tops and bamboo toothpicks, Soal highlights the stories embedded into these found materials by extracting them from their typical context. Beer bottle tops become writhing, twisting forms, which appear almost intestinal, but in reality serve as a reminder of the excesses available to us in our modern day. These elements of marginal discard become signifiers of the socio-political and economic excrescences of our society. And yet despite all they evoke, we cannot look away from the spiraling serpentine forms, we are spellbound and challenged through wonder, prompting the question: How do we see the world anew again?
Finds Taken For Wonders brings together key concerns in the artist’s sculptural practice, inviting viewers to reconsider their perceptual biases while challenging societal assumptions of value. Soal’s works poetically contain a deep longing to expose the destructive relationship between humankind and nature by engaging the viewer’s spatial awareness of their own body in relation to the monumental organic forms that shape these large-scale sculptures.
Through his use of discarded and mundane ephemera, Soal’s work intuitively develops the familiar to the point of the uncanny. Using conventional mass-produced objects such as beer bottle tops and bamboo toothpicks, Soal highlights the stories embedded into these found materials by extracting them from their typical context. Beer bottle tops become writhing, twisting forms, which appear almost intestinal, but in reality serve as a reminder of the excesses available to us in our modern day. These elements of marginal discard become signifiers of the socio-political and economic excrescences of our society. And yet despite all they evoke, we cannot look away from the spiraling serpentine forms, we are spellbound and challenged through wonder, prompting the question: How do we see the world anew again?
The impressive scale of Soal’s toothpick
sculptures intentionally challenge
viewers to see not just with the eyes,
but to perceive with the body, inviting
viewers to bodily consider their relation
to the work. For instance, the initial soft
fur or skin like appearance beckons one
to move closer, allowing for an intimate
reading and intimidating closeness towards these biomorphic sculptures. It is through this phenomenological encounter that the viewer is made to contemplate the ecological ramifications of societal actions. Ultimately, by working with materials fated to be discarded, Soal’s meticulously-built toothpick sculptures reference both nature and environmental decay pleading to be empathetically recognised.
reading and intimidating closeness towards these biomorphic sculptures. It is through this phenomenological encounter that the viewer is made to contemplate the ecological ramifications of societal actions. Ultimately, by working with materials fated to be discarded, Soal’s meticulously-built toothpick sculptures reference both nature and environmental decay pleading to be empathetically recognised.
“The delight in discovery is something that has pushed my
work forward ever since I have started. It is through this
moment of awe that the viewer is invited into a space of
agency - for now the parameters of a prior way of seeing
have been dismantled, and there lies an invitation to
reassess what has been relegated to the peripheral.”
- Chris Soal, Finds Taken For Wonder
- Chris Soal, Finds Taken For Wonder
Threshold, 2023
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Ripstop Fabric
320 x 300 x 45 cm
Finds taken for wonders | 2023 | Installation View
Reverie, 2023
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board, with Burnt and Unburnt Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
198 x 118 x 14 cm
Holding out, 2023
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board, Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete with Used Motor Car Oil and Rebar and Flat Bar
127 x 126 x 12 cm
Ensemble, 2023
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
255 x 228 x 33 cm
PRESS
Remains to be seen | 2022 | Installation View
Eduardo Secci is pleased to announce the solo show by Chris Soal in the gallery space in Milan, in Via Olmetto, from September 21 to November 11, 2022.
The exhibition brings together new and never-before-seen works by the emerging South African artist, who through sculptural practice not only wants to express a conceptual engagement with the contexts and histories of the objects and materials he uses but also re-enforces the body as a site for knowledge reception and production.
Soal's work can be considered as a social abstraction that is deeply rooted and reflective of having grown up in Johannesburg. It seeks to make a poetic statement through the simplest of ways, engaging the viewer’s spatial awareness and perception while challenging societal assumptions of value. The use of discarded and mundane ephemera, such as toothpicks and bottle caps, along with concrete, rebar, electric fencing cable, and other industrial materials, intuitively develops the familiar to the point of the uncanny.
For his first solo show in Italy and his first exhibition with the Eduardo Secci gallery, Soal has decided to investigate the legacy of Arte Povera and the connection he feels with artists such as Alberto Burri and Giuseppe Uncini, the precursor of the movement.
The repeated motifs throughout this body of work are the residual, fissure, crack, tear, singe, burn, spill, and break. The artist is interested in how entropy manifests in the man-made: the organic presents itself as a renewable force capable of resisting it, but to which we must then also forego imposing purely our agenda.
The exhibition brings together new and never-before-seen works by the emerging South African artist, who through sculptural practice not only wants to express a conceptual engagement with the contexts and histories of the objects and materials he uses but also re-enforces the body as a site for knowledge reception and production.
Soal's work can be considered as a social abstraction that is deeply rooted and reflective of having grown up in Johannesburg. It seeks to make a poetic statement through the simplest of ways, engaging the viewer’s spatial awareness and perception while challenging societal assumptions of value. The use of discarded and mundane ephemera, such as toothpicks and bottle caps, along with concrete, rebar, electric fencing cable, and other industrial materials, intuitively develops the familiar to the point of the uncanny.
For his first solo show in Italy and his first exhibition with the Eduardo Secci gallery, Soal has decided to investigate the legacy of Arte Povera and the connection he feels with artists such as Alberto Burri and Giuseppe Uncini, the precursor of the movement.
The repeated motifs throughout this body of work are the residual, fissure, crack, tear, singe, burn, spill, and break. The artist is interested in how entropy manifests in the man-made: the organic presents itself as a renewable force capable of resisting it, but to which we must then also forego imposing purely our agenda.
This relationship between intuition and intention revealing in the suggestions of intestinal and cerebral form is what propels his work. In an ongoing engagement with the material, Soal threaded salvaged beer bottle tops onto electric fencing cable encouraging its natural coil and twist to determine the form of the entire work.
From a socio-political point of view, the presence of beer bottle tops strewn in the streets of Johannesburg and in their resemblance to entrails, speaks to a certain attitude towards consumption and its violent excesses. The writhing and serpentine nature of the work also calls to mind mythical figures such as Medusa and the Gorgons.
In researching versions of the myth of Perseus and Medusa, the artist interprets it by contemplating the metaphor of the role of art in society. While the direct encounter with the Gorgon transforms the individual into stone, art can be the medium, the mirror or the shield through which we can face complex issues without becoming paralyzed by them.
Compelling the viewer to question their own complicity within our society of excessive consumption and mass-production, Soal’s toothpicks works astound and confound the perception of this humble material. Foregrounding pressing ecological concerns, these works primarily attempt to expose the paradoxical relationship humankind has with nature, that of simultaneous dependence and domination.
From a socio-political point of view, the presence of beer bottle tops strewn in the streets of Johannesburg and in their resemblance to entrails, speaks to a certain attitude towards consumption and its violent excesses. The writhing and serpentine nature of the work also calls to mind mythical figures such as Medusa and the Gorgons.
In researching versions of the myth of Perseus and Medusa, the artist interprets it by contemplating the metaphor of the role of art in society. While the direct encounter with the Gorgon transforms the individual into stone, art can be the medium, the mirror or the shield through which we can face complex issues without becoming paralyzed by them.
Compelling the viewer to question their own complicity within our society of excessive consumption and mass-production, Soal’s toothpicks works astound and confound the perception of this humble material. Foregrounding pressing ecological concerns, these works primarily attempt to expose the paradoxical relationship humankind has with nature, that of simultaneous dependence and domination.
Gorgon, 2022
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
119 x 145.5 x 13 cm
Spolia, 2022
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board, Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete with Used Motor Car Oil and Rebar
142 x 146 x 14 cm
Remains to be seen | 2022 | Installation View
Masquerade, 2022
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
201 x 283 x 32 cm
Kindling, 2022
Burnt and Unburnt Bamboo Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Ripstop Fabric, stretched on Obeche Wood Stretcher
175 x 153 x 25 cm
La Peau de Chagrin, 2022
Eroded Sandpaper
61 x 53 cm
Variable Edition of 5
Hyde, 2022
Burnt and Unburnt Bamboo Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Ripstop Fabric, stretched on Obeche Wood Stretcher
106 x 100 x 14 cm
PRESS
Installation view of Relic (2019 - 2021), included in Margins of Error at The Nirox Sculpture Garden, Johannesburg
Chris Soal’s first outdoor sculptural installation, Relic (2019 - 2021), consists of various sized concrete sections,installed in the landscape in numerous configurations,almost as if presenting these totemic forms in various states of decay. Drawing on his continuous body of work with toothpicks, the artist poured concrete over sculpted toothpick forms, before removing each toothpick, leaving being its haunting impression. The residual forms and textures of the surface are suggestive without being descriptive, drawing comparisons to barren topographies, dead coral, rough tree bark, and eroded marble — their abstraction leaving multiple avenues of interpretation open.
Recognising that many public sculpture needs to contend with the problem of “the monument,” the decision to create columns, large and looming phallic forms, was intentional. It felt like a problem that couldn’t be avoided, and instead an issue that needed to be addressed. The construction of these concrete surfaces through thevoid impressions of toothpicks, a material so insignificant and ubiquitous, felt like a fitting way to undermine the power that structures so erected often attempt tocommunicate. Soal references Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias” (1818):
“I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Recognising that many public sculpture needs to contend with the problem of “the monument,” the decision to create columns, large and looming phallic forms, was intentional. It felt like a problem that couldn’t be avoided, and instead an issue that needed to be addressed. The construction of these concrete surfaces through thevoid impressions of toothpicks, a material so insignificant and ubiquitous, felt like a fitting way to undermine the power that structures so erected often attempt tocommunicate. Soal references Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias” (1818):
“I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Reminiscent of columns, Relic (2019 - 2021) suggests a link to ancient empires, globally. These totems of “the never ending human struggle to leave an impressionthat lingers longer than our lifespans”, calls the viewer to reflect on their complicity ina disordered hierarchy of values fuelled by consumerism, while prophesying of the potential doom that inevitably awaits a near-decadent society. It is no accident then that Relic is unveiled in what is called the Cradle of Humankind, a site well known forfossil finds.
The decayed, fragmented and ruinous suggestion of the toothpick-less surface of the concrete might remind one of the forms in Max Ernst’s iconic “Europe after the Rain” (1940 - 1942), a direct challenge to the modernist aspirations that architecture’s pride in concrete held. Furthermore, the concrete recalls the proximity of Johannesburg in the Eden-like context of the landscaped park.
One of the paradoxes of ruins is how their collapse opens them up, exposing the interior to the exterior. If a present monument is a future ruin, then Relic poses the question not of what is present, but of what is absent. How then can the evidence of things unseen provoke us as viewers to look beyond ourselves? How could a ruin expose our interior spaces, our hidden motives, so that we may not be left, ruined?
The decayed, fragmented and ruinous suggestion of the toothpick-less surface of the concrete might remind one of the forms in Max Ernst’s iconic “Europe after the Rain” (1940 - 1942), a direct challenge to the modernist aspirations that architecture’s pride in concrete held. Furthermore, the concrete recalls the proximity of Johannesburg in the Eden-like context of the landscaped park.
One of the paradoxes of ruins is how their collapse opens them up, exposing the interior to the exterior. If a present monument is a future ruin, then Relic poses the question not of what is present, but of what is absent. How then can the evidence of things unseen provoke us as viewers to look beyond ourselves? How could a ruin expose our interior spaces, our hidden motives, so that we may not be left, ruined?
Relic, 2021
Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete Reliefs
Dimensions Variable
Relic, 2021
Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete Reliefs
Dimensions Variable
Relic, 2021
Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete Reliefs
Dimensions Variable
The artist acknowledges the support of the The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust, whose grant made much of the production behind this work possible.
Acknowledgement also goes to the Soal Studio team: Jonathan Illunga, Israel Sambuka, Dean van Wyk, to VM Engineering, and many others who have been integral to bringing this project into existence.
Acknowledgement also goes to the Soal Studio team: Jonathan Illunga, Israel Sambuka, Dean van Wyk, to VM Engineering, and many others who have been integral to bringing this project into existence.
Installation view of With you or without you (2020), Requiem (2021) and Paniki (2021)
WHATIFTHEWORLD and Chris Soal are pleased to present Elegy at The Nirox Foundation’s The Covered Space. In response to the context and conditions of the exhibition space, key works spanning the last four years have been selected from the artist’s own collection. Living and working in Johannesburg — a “city in tension” as Soal calls it — has had a great impact on the artist’s work, as this position is “often about locating oneself in that space, both as a response and a critique.” Through his use of discarded and mundane ephemera, such as toothpicks and bottle caps, in conjunction with concrete, rebar, electric fencing cable and other industrial materials,Soal examines structural impacts on urban living, reflects on the individual in relationto the collective, and foregrounds ecological concerns.
Chris Soal’s approach to sculpture reveals a sensitivity to material, texture and form; expressed through an abstract language. Conceptually, his works refer to the socio-political context of their production, highlighting the histories embedded in the material and utilizing them in a way that challenges societal assumptions of value. Elegy touches on themes of ruins, decay, erosion, the relic and effigy, and stands in conversation with the artist’s first large-scale outdoor installation, Relic (2019-2021).
With or without you, 2020
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable with Burnt and Unburnt Birch Wood Toothpicks held in Polyurethane Sealant on Fibreglass, Board and Ripstop Fabric
250 x 130 x 25 cm
Requiem, 2021
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
155 x 210 x 30 cm
Installation view of Requiem (2021) and Paniki (2021)
Paniki, 2021
Found Beer Bottle Cops threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
195 x 84 x 10 cm
Speak the truth even if your voice shakes, 2018
Bamboo Toothpicks, Burnt Wood from the 2017 Knysna Fires, South Africa
160 x 23 x 20 cm
The haunting of our age, 2019
Concrete Relief Cast
72.5 x 161 x 10 cm [Triptych]
Elegy | 2021 | Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg | Installation View
The artist acknowledges the support of the The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust, whose grant made much of the production behind this work possible.
Acknowledgement also goes to the Soal Studio team: Jonathan Illunga, Israel Sambuka, Dean van Wyk, to VM Engineering, and many others who have been integral to bringing this project into existence.
Acknowledgement also goes to the Soal Studio team: Jonathan Illunga, Israel Sambuka, Dean van Wyk, to VM Engineering, and many others who have been integral to bringing this project into existence.
ARTWORK DETAILS
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Reverie , 2023
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board, with Burnt and Unburnt Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
198 x 118 x 14 cm
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ARTWORK DETAILS
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Gargoyle, 2023
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board, Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete with Used Motor Car Oil and Rebar
154 x 127 x 14 cm
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Intimation, 2023
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
175 x 132 x 27 cm
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ARTWORK DETAILS
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Holding Out, 2023
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board, Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete with Used Motor Car Oil and Rebar and Flat Bar
127 x 126 x 12 cm
INFORMATION
Exhibited in Finds taken for wonders, Piero Atchugarry Gallery.
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2022
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Nomad, 2022
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
310 x 400 x 100 cm
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Kindling, 2022
Burnt and Unburnt Bamboo Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Ripstop Fabric, stretched on Obeche Wood Stretcher
175 x 153 x 25 cm
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ARTWORK DETAILS
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Masquerade, 2022
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
201 x 283 x 32 cm
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ARTWORK DETAILS
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Gorgon, 2022
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board
119 x 145.5 x 13 cm
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2021
ARTWORK DETAILS
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Mother , 2021,
Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Ripstop Fabric and Board,
270 x 400 x 35 cm
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Spolia , 2021,
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board,
150 x 73 x 15 cm
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All that we can't leave behind , 2021,
Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete Relief Cast, Steel,
Installation Dimensions Variable
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As below so above, 2021,
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board,
240 x 190 x 15 cm
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2020
ARTWORK DETAILS
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To make my form your own, 2020
Burnt and Unburnt Bamboo and Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Ripstop Fabric and Board
110 x 148 x 10 cm
INFORMATION
Exhibited in The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, 2022 at The Norval Foundation
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Sojourner , 2020,
Burnt and Unburnt Birch Wood Toothpicks, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Ripstop Fabric and Board, stretched on Obeche Wood Stretcher,
90 x 90 x 14 cm
ARTWORK DETAILS
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Lost in place, 2020,
Discarded Beer Bottle Caps threaded onto Electric Fencing Cable, held in Polyurethane Sealant on Board,
178 x 178 x 6 cm cm
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Lament (We Thought The Good Times Would Never End), 2019
Birch wood toothpicks in polyurethane sealant on board and industrial fabric
170 x 230 x 60 cm
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2019
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Nothing So Empty As the Empty Within. Nothing So Full As the Full Within #1, 2019
Discarded beer bottle-caps, woven steel rope, timber board
200 cm diameter
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Fable, 2019
Burnt and unburnt birch wood toothpicks, discarded bottle caps threaded onto woven
steel rope, industrial ripstop fabric, MDF board, polyurethane sealant.
150 x 190 x 25 cm
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ARTWORK DETAILS
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Wanderers in the Night, 2019
Burnt and unburnt birch wood toothpicks in polyurethane sealant on ripstop industrial fabric, stretched on a reinforced Obeche wood frame.
50 x 110 x 15 cm
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Reckoning, 2019
Birch wood toothpicks, polyurethane sealant, timber board, industrial fabric
180 x 150 x 20 cm
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2018
ARTWORK DETAILS
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The Search for Meaningfulness in the Search for Meaning, 2018
Concrete, and birch wood toothpicks held withpolyurethane adhesive on ribstop fabric
130 x 70 x 7cm
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In Order to Be..., 2018
Polyurethane glue drawings with toothpicks on light Yellow Ochre T. Edmonds paper
62,7 x 87 x 4cm (Framed)
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To know That One Is Dreaming Is to Be No Longer Perfectly Asleep, 2019
Toothpicks, polyurethane adhesive on board with pine frame
190 x 103 cm
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You Threw Sand Into The Wind And The Wind Blew It Back, 2018
Toothpicks, burnt toothpicks, adhered with polyurethane sealant in Pine Wood frame
140 x 65 cm
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2017
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ISeeYouSeeMeSeeYou, 2017
Bent beer bottle caps on foamboard
200 cm (Diameter)
INFORMATION
Collection of Galila Barzilaï-Hollander, Brussels.
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Bound, 2017
Misprinted Steel sheets - courtesy Coleus Packaging; ratchet.
150 x 60 cm
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Terrikon Fraction, 2017
Industrial debris from the manufacturing of beer bottle tops on painted board.
216 x 84 cm
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The Call of the Sirens , 2017
Industrial debris from the manufacturing of beer bottle tops on painted board.
251,5 x 119,5 cm
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