Goni Harlap  

Artist Statement  

    

In times when the virtual image proliferate, inundating our senses, as an 

artist who works primarily with sculpture and installations, tangible physicality plays an important role for me. Whether I cast polymers or alter a ready-made object, materiality is a key entry point to my work. The material is a flickering entity, trembling presence, continually repressed, cannot be detached from concept. therefore the constant movement between the two flows through the work. 

 

The pursuit of physicality and presence is also an engagement with the concept of time, its flow and expenditure. Often objects I create repeat themselves, multiply and flourish, without beginning nor end, echoing a feeling of intensity that never reaches conclusion. Through the play between mold and cast, object and image, I examine the reciprocal relationships of the individual and the environment, of the generic and the unique. 

The materials I use are themselves deceptive: the synthetic becomes organic, hard reveals itself to be soft, and that which appears solid is actually liquid. 

Their vivid colors, sheen, and transparency try to capture the distracted gaze, the tactile qualities draw the viewer closer, suggesting a forbidden touch. 

 

This sensory effect brings up a discussion of the body, questioning codes of bodily decorum within the art world, as well as through our daily life. Reclaiming the physical body cannot be separated from gender thought. Often my work contains explicit sexual imagery that aims to liberate from immediate connotations, and open alternative views. Evading a single steady meaning allows an intimate, primary intuition to arise, free from former experience and thought.