"Growth" of a stone inside wood  /  Tani Goldstein

Casting of stone filler for tree stumps. The stone lives in a dead tree ​

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Miriam Houri, a sculptor from Rishon Lezion, has developed a new and unusual sculptural technique, which she presents in her new traveling exhibition - "Growth". Houri has so far worked mainly in clay and bronze. Her new works are made up of felled branches and tree stumps, into which a stone filling has been poured. The stone plays the role of the core of the tree and the contact between the living and the inanimate, gives the observer the feeling that the tree is dead, while the flesh of the stone sticking out of it is alive and growing. This sculpture technique has not been tried in Israel before. Houri says that she was inspired to work by looking at the vegetation in the garden of her house. In some of the sculptures in the exhibition "The Marcher" and "Primate", for example, the tree and the stone form a human figure. In some they are transmitted in fine lines, through the branching of the tree branches and its bark texture, movements and expressions.

In some of the works, the feeling of the organs of a human body is conveyed in the strong lines of the structure of the tree stump, combined with the special depth that the fossil filler gives.

Houri's works have always been characterized by sensuality and a strong transfer of physicality, sometimes erotic.  The new technique intensifies this feeling, especially in these sculptures.

A tour of the exhibition is similar to a walk on a diverse street, where you can meet both flowering trees and fascinating human figures. Houri, a native of Tunis, has been working for thirty years and has previously participated in 15 group exhibitions. This is her first solo exhibition. It is displayed in various galleries, until its final relocation to a public place in Rishon Lezion.

Details on its current location can be obtained by calling 03-5490558.

 

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