Tree of Knowledge
from:- Yona Levy Grosman Ever since man tasted from the tree of knowledge of bad and good (knowing only the extremes), his world has become one of opposites and paradoxes. Ever since that day, man has been yearning and searching for the wholeness that has disintegrated. In his quest for the lost grail, there are three paths: philosophy, art, and science. The start of the expedition was through the arts. The rhythms and sounds of the drum, and the colors and shapes of cave paintings, seen with the light of the torch, were the pioneers along the path of the quest. Stored within these expressions are philosophical thoughts and the seeds of science. Later, philosophy became the forerunner of the quest; and then philosophical thinking became the wellspring for both the arts and for the buds of science, which began to sprout. In contemporary times, science is the pathbreaker, with its sharpened knife, in the dense jungle of reality. Scientific understanding leads to the invention of modern technological means which enable deeper understanding of reality which then leads to the development of yet newer technologies and so on and so forth. Today, the sciences are the pioneers of the endless process of the architecture of human thoughts, and all of us are caught up in the scientific stream, collecting its victims along the way. The victims are the result of humanity’s misunderstanding of the integral messages carried within the scientific data that is collected. The arts, in our contemporary world, is a reflection that attempts to be true to the vision of human thoughts and actions, in all of its greatness and all of its weaknesses and dis-ease. Three separate paths were set upon to look for the understanding of wholeness and the wholeness that stems from understanding. My path is via the arts. In order to create my own way within this path, I hold philosophical thoughts tightly in one hand, and in my other hand I grasp modern scientific understanding. As I learn to grasp them more correctly, my path welcomes me. My name is Yona Levy Grosman. I live and create in the Negev, the desert area of the state of Israel. I sincerely hope you enjoy your visit at my website. Slide No. 180
: This
is representative of a series of works that demonstrate the cycles of
creation and destruction, from the historical perspective. Since this
particular work was commissioned for a wine festival, the wine is the
initiator of the historic cycle. The cycle begins with a portrayal of
the grape harvest, as it appears in early Egyptian wall paintings.
Next, the drinking of wine is portrayed, as it appears on plates from
Ancient Greece. Finally, the cycle is closed with a portrayal of
Picasso’s Taurus, as a symbol of civil war. As with every war, after
destruction, there is a lot of work created in order to rebuild. Thus we
have a natural process of work, pleasure then destruction. History is
portrayed as order and chaos, spilling like overflowing wine. The
movement of the smoke determines the path of the spilling wine.
The movement of smoke is a motif that repeats itself often in my work.
It is symbolic of several human phenomena. One of the phenomena is the
basicsurvival instinct of differentiating between central images and
background. As with all qualities,this trait contains both positive
and negative aspects. An individual’s reality is in essence his/her
interpretation of reality. For example, in a setting with infinite
stimuli, the ability to focus on one stimulus or to synthesize among a
limited number of stimuli to obtain one central meaning, can be a
matter of survival. However, being focussed on one goal may act as
blinders, aborting our ability to absorb further stimuli, even if they
are tangible. The morphology of the smoke, when observed at a specific
moment in time relates the sensation of movement together with the
illusion of boundaries that do not in reality exist. This is a good
example of how we deal with problems concerning matter and space, and how
people decide what density of matter will be called matter and what
will be designated space. The issue of matter and space is translated
in a painting to image and background. As in all works of art dealing
with image and background, it is the observer who decides which is
image, and which is background. Added to this then, is the movement of
the smoke that complements the movement of the image with the movement
of the background. This subject is represented in slides
184
185
198
and
199
With
this, we have reached the point to discuss the interplay between layers
of order and layers of chaos. In essence, it is the perspective of the
person assessing the situation that determines what is order and what
is chaos. Nature, as I understand it and based upon Spinoza’s
thoughts, is a phenomenon based upon order. Or, it may be called
organized chaos. Our ability to determine if a certain phenomenon is
chaotic or ordered is dependent upon our perspective and the tools
with which we examine the phenomenon. This subject is symbolized in
slides
123
and
133
The subject of image and background is expressed also in slides
200
201
and
202
In these works I used Mandelbrout shapes; these enabled me to
represent the process of drops unifying to become a flow, and flows
unifying to become a sea, in addition to the study of image and
background. Slide no.
201
the
image, or the background, as you decide, painted in sky blue, is upon
an equation formulated by Professor Vladmir Gontar. If I am not
mistaken, the equation is the mathematical representation of a chemical
reaction. Inside the opposing shapes or the complementary shapes
appearing as yellow images or as background, is written the first
chapter of Genesis. The letters are written in mirror image with white
paint because of the Kabalistic tradition that tells of a white flame
that came before creation in the space that God evacuated, in order to
make room for the creation. And the black letters, running from right
to left, are only a partial reflection of the creation letters, in order
to fit the limited human capacity for understanding. The central issue
of slide
200
is the
desperate human attempt to frame the natural dynamic processes. Also
expressed in this slide is the story of drops coagulating.
In slide
202
the
male, based upon the image of the athlete from Picasso’s painting and
the female figure, based upon the painting “Pisces” by Man Ray also tell
the story of one drop and then another drop. However, another story is
played out within this painting. Here, the figures are a dynamic
process with the existence of contradictions within each figure. In
addition, the male figure is vertical while the female is positioned
horizontally. The prominent colors of the male figure are sky blues
while she is colored in variations of yellow like the sand and the
earth. These are societal stereotypes. If we expand our thoughts to
understanding the nuances of an infinite reality, then we will find
that the concepts of vertical and horizontal have no value and no
significance, thus resulting in the understanding that there are no
boundaries and there is no separation between colors nor shapes. In
essence, we will discover that everything is within everything in
constant motion. The definitions of boundary and direction are only
man’s tools for finding his way within the infinite reality.
Slide no.
193
also
tells of the same need that man has to frame processes. In this instance
the chess board is the human framework.
Earlier, I discussed the subject of a process being framed. From my
perspective, the significant tool available to man, in addition to the
straight line, is a frame, constructed from straight lines. The frame
is the tool used by man to aid him in understanding infinite
processes, in an infinite reality. Scientific studies are a window,
peering into this infinite reality. Likewise, our beliefs are also
windows. The glass in these windows is not always transparent; often
times in fact the glass is a mirror. Frames are also a useful tool for
me when telling the story of these windows that catch glimpses of the
infinite reality, as expressed in slides
128
189
198
199
200
201
and
203
In essence, every work is a window. However, not all windows
relay that they are only a piece of a puzzle, that we humans, through
science, philosophy and art, are trying to put together, in order to
obtain a picture of reality. Therefore, the paintings are created as
pieces missing in a puzzle.
A sand dune is often a representation of reality for me. The constant
processes of destruction and creation of the uppermost layer which is
always similar, but never identical to itself, the aggregation of
individual grains of sand to ultimately produce a huge silent foundation
with only the smallest percentage of individuals, on the uppermost
layer determining the final form, are metaphors for human existence. A
single grain of sand, blowing in the wind may at one point fall to the
bottom and serve as part of the foundation, and at another time may
land on top and help determine the final form and statement.
Slide no.
189
represents a series of works that I called “The grains of the earth
cover and protect me wave by wave, from the burning sun”. This series
deals with the combination of processes of building and destruction of
man and of nature. The same grains of earth that cover man upon his
death, are used in life for building shingles that are wave-like, and
for protecting him from the sun, the cold, and the rain. The man-made
shingles also deteriorate over time, returning to the earth and to
their original structure. In addition, this work involves
consciousness and human memory, as they are expressed in Ecclesiastics
chapter 1, verse 8. The young and wholesome feet that appear at the
top of the dune are not aware of the history of the dune, nor of the
men buried within. To the naive legs everything appears as new, as
though all of creation came into existence along with their birth.
Slides
138
203
and
204
depict
the desperate human attempt to touch the sand and to touch movement.
In painting no.
138
appear
the words “Limited am I, I am human”. Whereas in slide
203
the background for the hand imprint is sand, in slide
204
the background is a computerized presentation of Vladmir
Gontar’s formula. The background for slide
138
is taken
from a blueprint for an electronic device, receiving through my artist’s
eyes, volume, color and movement. That blueprint became a sand dune’s
wave in slide
139
And
then the wave, altered through a play of timing and quantity became a
small part of a dune in paintings
140
and
146
The design blueprint, that has become a wave, is depicted in
slide
144
as a
tool to aid in my understanding of time, as a human being.
The intersection of creation with the design for an electronic device,
a human creation, creates a new window peering on yet another aspect
of reality. Another blueprint, used as a metaphor for the ocean’s
waves, in slide
153
is seen
as a desert landscape.
In slide
166
, the second blueprint is used as a
connection between earth and sky. This blueprint found its way as a
metaphoric statement in several additional works of mine.
In spite of our existence as children of the sand (slide
126
), we suckle from the dune’s breast (slide
71
), our umbilical chord, constructed of barbed wire, determines
boundaries and a mobile reality.
Personally, I see my work as a human story of infinite attempts to
burst through boundaries in a world of boundaries; bursting to
infinite spaces on a canvas tightly held to a wooden frame; and to
relay the sensation of time through a frozen moment (slides
77
121
123
128
181
and
183
). And
thus it is a desperate human attempt to construct man-made order over
the natural reality; in fact, this order turns out to be a superficial
temporary covering that is easily ripped by the natural processes bursting
out from within (slide
176
).
Certainly, these slides that you now have before you have many
additional stories behind them, but I am very curious to know what you
see behind them.
