Original artwork description:

Filler on board, oak panel
My works are not painted but cast in oak panels using standard wall filler.

Spreading can mean many things—genetic mutations spreading through generations, diseases spreading in the population and information spreading through society, to mention a few. On my way to work, I saw a sign on the river stating, “Border River - Sea,” I thought of how freshwater is spreading into the salty sea and how it can be viewed as a metaphor for life, death and rebirth. The vertical direction in the Spread works can symbolise life that flows downstream but also erects itself from the ground. At the same time, the horizontal indicates death and decay but also the invisible elevation to new life in a constant cycle.

Together with #541 The Sea, this work completes a diptych. After the famous Palestinian slogan, I titled it From The River To The Sea. In the Parable series, author Octavia Butler writes about a new religion created from the concept of change. Change is the one constant of life as we know it. It is also the precondition for Hope, precisely what the Palestinian slogan expresses: hope and belief that change will come and bring freedom to the oppressed.

Spread is a compilation of work made by spreading the filler along the depth of the rim with a scrape. Letting a single action shape the result is reminiscent of Richard Serra's Verb List. It functioned as a kind of manifest for Serra's way of producing sculptures. To spread is on the list. It's about making art by exposing a matter to different types of forces.

Materials used:

Filler on board, oak panel

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