Reconciliation, 1989 - 1990


In the collection of The National Gallery of Canada Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Installation, wooden post supporting bronze leaf, Marble, bronze and wood;

Bronze Leaf 2.56 x 1.83 x 1.02 m (100 x 72 x 40 inches),

Cherry Pit 0.30 x 0.25 x 0.26 m (11 x 10 x 10 inches),

Apricot Pit 0.71 x 0.53 x 0.20 m (28 x 21 x 8 inches),

Plum Pit 0.58 x 0.36 x 0.19 m (23 x 14 x 7 inches),

Peach Pit 0.54 x 0.40 x 0.27 m (21 x 16 x 11 inches),

Almond 0.75 x 0.45 x 0.34 m (29 x 18 x 14 inches)

Reconciliation is a sculptural environment that consists of five marble elements in the shape of seeds: an almond, an apricot pit, cherry pit, peach pit and plum kernel, weighing between sixty and three hundred pounds each. The focal point of the installation is a large bronze leaf, approximately 5 x 7 feet in size, weighing 900 pounds. It is resting upon a wooden pole.

The carvings suggest fertility and force of live; they play with the associations of very familiar objects that are placed in a new context and environment. The big leaf is a shelter and a cave. It is unstable and has to be encountered with an open mind in order not to become a weighty tomb. The work is adjusting our relation to “nature”, but is talking about a current problematic of urban life, about a placement of a self-consciousness as part of a living society.

See also: National Gallery of Canada

See also: Reconciliation and Matter in Balance

oder in Deutsch: Wiederversöhnung und Materie im Gleichgewicht

Please click on any image below for larger view and/or slide show.