From a distance the installation is perceived as a free-hand drawing in space, but one approaches to discover the simple materiality of a net of threads and beads in diverse colors, which were threaded in a thorough process. Lionel Estève’s weightless sculptures seem to hover in the air, leading the gaze along and across the space with a surprising and mesmerizing feeling, as if it were palpable and graspable. The dreamy sight is reinforced due to the circular movement of the sculptures connected to a rotor, and they rotate in fast or slow pace.

Estève’s flowers are like rock flowers that do not require soil and can grow inside bare rocks or in dry desert surfaces. The flower sculptures seem to grow from the museum ceiling which simulates the formation of concave rocks, creating a hanging garden in mid air. They are linked with the current of kinetic art, which emerged in the 1920s and culminated in the 1960s; a trend that incorporated elements of motion, wind, light and color in sculpture. The works’ mode of installation and the movement embodied in them channel the visitors along imaginary routes. A walk through the light, variously shaped and colored structures elicits the feeling of a walk in an imaginary garden.

Lionel Estève (1967) was born in France. Lives and works in Belgium.

Courtesy of the Doron Sebbag Art Collection, ORS Ltd., Tel Aviv

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