Margaret Hooks
 Herbarium, 2006  Alphabet Signs, 2000  Fire series, 1986  Iceland, 2003 |
Manel ArmengolExcerpt from 'Seeing The World In A Grain Of Sand' Armengol’s 'Alphabet Signs' arose from his conviction that in our globalized world the current social, ethical system is breaking down and must give way to a new set of values and human interaction. This breakdown, he believes, indicates that humanity’s survival is in jeopardy unless new parameters for a peaceful, harmonious coexistence are devised. To achieve this, he is convinced we have to go back to zero and invent a different language of communication based on a new “alphabet” - a system of signs that could express more fully, more philosophically what all mankind has in common… He believes this reinvented 'alphabet' should emerge from the world of nature, the one force that unites us all, and to create 'Alphabet Signs' he turned to the fourteen olive trees on the small piece of land he inherited from his father. Using the branches of the olive trees, a symbolic gesture in itself, he selected those whose line, or movement reflected what he wanted to convey and photographed them in high contrast so they appear bone white against their black background. According to Armengol the black background he utilizes in 'Alphabet Signs' refers to the genesis of time, to the darkness before light. They speak to us of the allegory of space and time, about the mystery of life and our underlying quest for its essential values. Their lines, enigmatic strokes from some arcane pen, black empty spaces that trap a tiny gesture, hint at directions that could be taken. The work can also be viewed as a kind of game; one’s own values can be linked to the representations, in the form of a symbolic language, as though they were fundamental in establishing the graphic expression of what would then become an 'alphabet'. 'Alphabet Signs'… is overwhelmingly an alphabet for our era. Despite its esoteric symbolism, there is much of the human condition in it. In addition to being a reflection on our existence in these unsettling times, it contains fragility, a hint of pathos and a certain fallibility that is all too human. The piece is comprised of 21+1 photos-signs; the extra one being the 'Zero' which is usually exhibited more prominently than the others, as it should be, for the zero has powerful connotations and here against a void-black backdrop it speaks volumes. However, Armengol’s pared down 'Zero' is slightly wobbly, somewhat frail and frayed at the edges. In fact, it looks like it might well have stood up from a page in one of Samuel Beckett’s plays and would not look altogether out of place rolling along that country road in 'Waiting for Godot'. The reference to Beckett is not facetious. There are elements in much of Armengol’s work that echo Beckett in his paring away of the superfluous from his lexicon of images to expose only the essential. His work is deceptively simple, devoid of artifice and the materials he utilizes extremely sparse... -- Margaret Hooks Copyright © Margaret Hooks 2007 Turner/ |
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