quatro cycles Sculpture

Asaf LIFSHITZ Sculptor The tradition of the artist is part and parcel of his very being. In spite of no formal training in the arts, artistry has been interwoven throughout his life. Asaf's statues grace the yards and gardens of Israel from Metulla in the north to Beer-Sheva in the south. Each statue has its contrasts and tensions within the contrast. These contrasts are expressed : by the different materials he chooses to work with, (bronze, stainless steel and basalt, an Ignatius rock) and by their combinations, -some in the natural form and others into another format. And by the appearance of motion in the figures. in contrast to the stationary element of the inanimate objects. The inanimate in the statues Occasionally a statue will have an un worked object enmeshed within, such as pieces of the "original bridge across the Jordan river", - of major significance; and sometimes the object is one taken from daily life but which has undergone an artist's change, integration and make over, -such as a create of oranges, a wooden chair, a bicycle or even earphones. The use of theses objects is a variation of the artistic conception of a "object trouve" : That is an object that has been found in its natural plane and by putting it into another place the object gets a different meaning. The figures in the statues The figures in the statues are active and open the statues towards the landscape and the environment. The figures touch the observer, while they are involved in themselves. There is a palpable inner world about them as they are immersed in the still object that is part of the creation. This creates a complete and closed unit which the observer has become part of, within the figures there is an interaction between reality and fantasy. The figures appears very real but something within each of them disturbs the illusions. The integration with the landscape is created from the action of the figures in combination with the openness and spaces provided by the different proportions of the inanimate objects. By Ayala Ducas Asaf was born in Israel. He is the son of Russian immigrants the first generation born in Israel.