Intimate Fusion: A Sculpture’s Silent Call to Connection and Respect

Lets connect! :)

I was in an art gallery in Warsaw a couple of days ago, looking at all the paintings and sculptures from emerging artists and some who passed away a couple of decades back. There was this one sculpture they had just brought in from a famous artist, which was on the list to be sold in the next auction.

I entered the room in which it was, and somehow I was attracted to it. Not in a romantic or ‘weird-kink’ way, but simply, I felt it. I’m not sure how to explain this feeling, but I can imagine everyone has had this feeling before… of being ‘called’, you could say, or simply mesmerized … but not quite mesmerized… that’s a different kind of feeling. Wouldn’t say it is quite this.

As if I entered this room, and I was absorbed by it. More like that. The sculpture was quite simple, but the figure itself was interesting. Imagine a two-dimensional – almost – figure of a human sitting in a block, made out of a material that looked like yarn but copper-like. Basically, it looked as if it was made out of those old, big potato bags but made out of metal. Copper-like.

This human was not one. It was one body, but two heads. It was a merge between two bodies together. Two heads, two arms, two legs, one large chest, and it all being one. It reminded me of what it felt like to be one with someone else. Almost as if you and the other person feel one and can’t seem to separate from each other completely as much as they’d want to. They have merged once. And they can sit in silence, being two beings, having two heads, and feeling as if they have one simple body. Those moments when you can grab their hand and not know if it is your own or theirs.

And that struck me. A sculpture that made me think of human intimate connection. Genuine connection between two people. As simple as that. I had to mind a couple of businesses there, but I could not get my eyes off of it. I felt magnetized towards it. I could walk to another room and look at the other paintings, but I’d always turn my head back and try to see how it looked from afar. Some unique type of beauty in its simplicity. Power. It held power.

I’m not sure if the others felt it like this, but this is out of my control, and I’m glad I got a chance to experience it. I stood in front of it and looked at it straight in the faces. The way the artist made their bodies merge. The way they sat. I went to the side of it and appreciated its silhouette. Just as it was. No judgment to it, simply watching. I stood behind it and saw the way they were carved from the inside. It’s curious how when watching sculptures, the back is sometimes dismissed. Of course, the point and the focus are to watch it from the front. Often the back has a curious aspect to it, and it is easily blown out of people’s attention. I decided a while ago that I’d try and take a look at sculptures from the back. Many times, artists take the time to craft the back. It is another hustle. Dismissed by many. Other artists think it is pointless to make the back since we have to take a look at what is in front of us and not always what is behind or something else. They all may have their own reasoning towards how to create.

The thing is, someone called for my attention while I was looking at it. I came back in front of the sculpture and gave my back to it. I don’t think I’ve felt something like this before, but I truly felt like it was not correct giving my back to it. Standing in front of it, looking in the other direction, or the same direction it was facing, and making an act of dismissal to its existence. It felt out of line with me. It felt wrong. Almost like giving my back to a person. As if I was disrespecting it. I must not turn my back to it.

MyBk