FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Susan Martin / 310 315 2889 or
Lea Remba / 310 657 1101
The Remba Gallery
464 N. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069
E-mail, remba@earthlink.net
Web site, http://artscenecal.com/Remba.html
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Friday, 10 AM to 5:30 PM, Saturday, 11 AM to 5:30 PM or by appointment.
October 28, 1999 - January 8, 2000
Reception, October 28, 6-8pm
JONATHAN BOROFSKY’S “TURTLE CLOCK”
A KINETIC INSTALLATION ON THE FAÇADE OF REMBA GALLERY TO BE UNVEILED
Exhibition of Related Works Also on View at the Gallery
Remba Gallery is pleased to announce the unveiling of "Turtle Clock," a major new work by Jonathan Borofsky produced by Mixografia and permanently installed on the façade of the Robertson Boulevard gallery. Also on view at the gallery will be All is One, an exhibition of sculptural multiples by Borofsky repeating the turtle motif. The exhibition opens Thursday, October 28th from 6 to 8 PM with the inauguration of Turtle Clock and a reception for the artist. The exhibition runs through January 8, 2000.
A working timepiece measuring 15 x 40 x 1 feet, "Turtle Clock" consists of seventy-two interlocking copper turtles. Twelve rows of six turtles each--with the first row on the left being one o’clock, the next, two o’clock and so on--mark the hours by moving their heads in and out of their shells. At Noon and Midnight all the turtles wag their heads simultaneously for one hour.
Conceived by the artist and fabricated by Mixografia Workshop, Borofsky’s ingenious and charming device resonates with symbolic meaning. Using the turtle as a metaphor, Borofsky explores the mythic as well as formal qualities these gentle animals embody. Designed to tell time, it nevertheless has a timeless feeling as the artist has incorporated partial castings of turtles at the beginning and end of the installation. The “ruby” shape fashioned for the turtles’ backs implies enlightenment and heart, while the grid of turtles seems to be “holding hands”--suggesting friendship and camaraderie.
Intended to transmit an ethos, the artist endows turtles with laudable and anthropomorphized qualities: Turtles don’t hear, but they are sensitive. They personify longevity, and as the children’s fable relates--they are slow, but sure. Like humans they have an outer, protective shell that hides a vulnerable, softness inside.
"Turtle Clock" and its accompanying exhibition, "All is One"--smaller turtles in geometric configurations installed on the gallery walls--continue Borofsky’s search for an authentic connection between the personal and political, the formal and spiritual in his work. Internationally acclaimed for more than two decades for his installations and large-scale public art commissions, the artist’s signature warmth and humor is telegraphed in Turtle Clock, his second collaborative project with Lea and Luis Remba of Mixografia Workshop and Remba Gallery.
“'Turtle Clock' presented new challenges for Mixografia,” says Luis Remba. “We are particularly gratified that we were able to translate the artist’s vision of the piece so precisely, and are delighted that its witty presence will be available for all to see as they drive down Robertson Boulevard.”
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Return to Jonathan Borofsky