TUVIA YUSTER, "SCULPTOR OF THE HOLY AND THE PROFANE"

As a creative artist, I am sensitive to every innovation and try to be original. At the same time, I respect and am influenced by art throughout the generations. Being a Jew, I attach great importance to our culture and religion, from which the great artists of the world received their inspiration".

"The essence of technology is not technological - technology establishes a new type of cultural system that shapes the whole of world society as an object of control",

Martin Heidegger (from a series of articles, 1938, "Establishing a Picture of the Modern World through Metaphysics").

Yes, Tuvia Yuster, as a product of the twentieth century, has a great interest in the scientific and technical innovations that fertilize his work, such as in his outdoor sculpture whose uniqueness in perceiving space stems from the possibility of altering its formal, static character in a variety of ways. "Technology enters the most hidden places of human existence, it alters the way we are aware, think or desire. Technology is, in essence, a manner of human existence whose mental penetration we could not appreciate before the computer became a central cultural phenomenon", Michael Heim (The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, Oxford, 1993).

Tuvia Yuster, as an artist in stone and wood, finds that his work is influenced by the thoughts and creative work of Constantin Brancusi, one of the greatest sculptors of the twentieth century. "We must not try to force the material to speak our language. We must accompany it up to the point where observers will understand its own language. Simplicity is not an aim in itself in art. You achieve it in spite of yourself in your attempt to approach ever closer to the real essence of things. Simplicity is in fact the embodiment of complexity and in order to grasp its value and its significance you must maintain your faith in the essence of its being", Constantin (Brankush) Brancusi.

"In the wooden columns rising upwards, echoing Brancusi's endless column that stands in Romania, rhomboid forms are tied in a repetitive chain. Yuster's columns preserve the surface of the natural, wild wood, with the fissures and etchings of time. He adds iron seams that bind the scars in the wood together, hinting at their infirmity, and that their apparent erectness is no guarantee at all of their ability to fly to the heavens and free themselves from earthly constraints. His columns are not an abstract mathematical combination. They preserve the characteristics of the wood whose roots are in the earth", Nava Semel (from an article in the local weekly, "Kolbo", Issue 935, 1986).

Following Brancusi, Yuster sculpts basic forms in nature in an attempt to reach their essence and true meaning by creating variations that over the years have become more and more refined. His works, such as The Torso and Bird in Space, an abstract being, and on the other hand the column representing infinity, mix content with form and jointly the means of artistic expression. Currently, Tuvia Yuster is summarizing forty-five years of artistic creativity. "A retrospective exhibition is usually organized for an artist after many years of activity. But at the tempo of our time and our country in particular, the jubilee of a career in art and creativity is a long time. This fact will explain, perhaps, the differences in style in my work which I created throughout this period", Tuvia Yuster.

The return of the few survivors - the fulfilment of the prophets' vision, strengthened the influence of the Bible on Tuvia Yuster's work. Titles of his sculptures such as "The Aliya" and "Mezuzat Derech" bear witness to his belief in the fulfilment of the prophesy "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more". In what he does, Tuvia Yuster walks between the local and the universal. In touching the philosophical polarity that characterizes our lives, originality compared to infinity, his works raise questions of identity and belonging. As an artist, he does not completely ascribe himself to formal abstract or figurative sculpture. At the same time, Yuster finds the main inspiration for his work in the Bible. He therefore sees himself as "a sculptor of the holy and the profane".

Tuvia Yuster lived and workied in the artists' village Ein Hod since the late 1950's. A member of the Israel Painters and Sculptors Association, he has presented many solo exhibitions both at home and abroad and has participated in group exhibitions. His works are in collections in various countries.

Curator of the Exhibition: Zvika Israel, Chairman of the Painters and Sculptors Association, Haifa & Northern District, and Chairman of the ICU