Galerie
Belle Shafir - Rooted
Technique Mixte
PORTRAITSCRIPTUM
My most recent work, Portraitscriptum, is a series incorporating three elements:
• written verbal language
• sign language
• body language, in the form of hand gestures
The nature and meaning of language has been the subject of extensive thought and research in numerous societies for hundreds of years. For me, the identifiable and appreciable value of words in a language is strongly linked to creations based on prehistoric images, such as the visuality of cave drawings and the ornamentality of hieroglyphics, the foundations of universal art.
On my visit to India some six months ago, I was deeply affected by the mellifluous intonations of the spoken language and its illustration in body language, particularly through hand movements. As I worked on preparatory sketches of hands, they became for me a symbol of complex meaning parallel to the three aspects of this series - written language illuminated, highlighted, and delimited by an infinite variety of images and signs in the written forms.
The positions of the many pairs of hands represent gestures in an expressive dialogue of relationships, a personal portrait of mankind. The different states of personification reflect an understanding of time and life through images depicted with the utmost realism.
The works are arranged in four groups:
• Prints of calligraphic images in hands
• A painting of indistinct veiled figures along with ornamental lettering
• Sculpted hands nestled in cushions and framed by inscriptions
• Free-standing hand sculptures marked with a symbolic letter code