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2011

Made for the Open Book exhibition, hosted by I-Art gallery, Cape Town in June 2011
7 log-like shapes exhibited in a row
Tree logs – Jacaranda wood, sliced blades – Imbuia wood
Base: 2150mm X 700mm X 120mm; log sizes variable

Open and Shut

  • My sculpture OPENANDSHUT shows books in the form of trees being smashed-up. My militant friend Mordechai blatantly states that books are nothing but badly fucked-up trees. The forensics of a book shows it is made of the same substance a tree is made of.

     

    OPENANDSHUT shows the paradigm tree on its way to becoming the paragon book. Seven logs of light- coloured Jacaranda wood are arranged in a row with cutting-blades of dark Imbuia wood sliced into them. I studied the way trees are cut up and shredded in paper mills. I wish to allude to stumps of trees fed into vicious rollers fitted with cutting-blades.

     

    Regarding paper in the world, no matter how glamorously that paper is presented, is really regarding totally destroyed trees. The idea of a paperless office is easier said than done. The more computerised the secular world becomes, the more paper it seems to generate.

     

    I am a hypocrite. I have a great affection for books and I have collected about 10,000 books over the years. I learned to read before I went to school and I always had a pile of library books with me. Somehow, I have to accept that the love of books must become the love of antiques. I have to shut the open book.

     

    Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases, notably carbon dio