Four , 2020
42 x 59.4 cm (h x w)
Pencil and gold leaf on paper

Still unwell. Coughing like mad, a weird metallic taste in my mouth. My lungs feel like they are filled with dust or talcum powder. I cannot taste my food. In life the most valuable things are the cheapest. The less we need things the more expensive they become. The most vital thing is air, our breath, and this is what is now most threatened. Air is free but our ability to breathe should not be taken for granted, it is a blessing. Then water. But without it we survive only a couple of days. Then comes food. This costs money and is of course vital. But I cannot taste it. Again, all my life I took the pleasure of tasting for granted, but it too is a blessing. Travel, shelter, each progressively more expensive. And then you get to luxuries. Not vital and the most expensive, and we have spent much of our life obsessed with these. But for now, we realise the value of breath, water, food and of course family.

In Four I am seated on the left, three souls have been born from me, my children. The same souls have been born from my wife. They are biological people but also thoughts, dreams. My wife had the same thoughts and dreams, she is dreaming these three souls separately. And then we came together and made these thoughts or dreams into reality and they walked on their own.

There are many images of birds’ nests filled with eggs, a leitmotif in the series to come. But also, a symbol of the home, of children, of fertility, of mind and body.

Ausgestellt von

Ben Uri Research Unit

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