WALTER BENJAMIN ARCHIVE
The Walter Benjamin Archive work consists of 12 panels, unprimed linen, injected colour ink and charcoal, pastel, acrylic drawings. Each panel, some vertical, some horizontal, measures 82”x24” or
24”x 82” (60x208cm )
The work witnesses, reflects on, and echoes Walter Benjamin’s texts and letters written in Eivissa, (under the sun, a place for the valuable, the StoryTeller and his expressed interest in local Eivissian - Eivissa being the native name for Ibiza - myths) during his two prolonged 1932-33 stays in the island, in what would become the beginning of his forced exile and eventual tragic death. It accompanies his archives of beautifully drawn Hebrew words, marking his experience while studying Hebrew, in times working and living in Jerusalem, near his friend Gershom (Gerhard) Sholem, still seemed a possible, though unchartered and vague route for salvation. His choice of words for his experiments in Hebrew calligraphy is exhilarating and at times prophetic, illuminating poetically his underlying interests and inner preoccupations. the work follows his encounter with the Eivissean payesa house, its architecture and mysterious inner space, an encounter that awakens a beautiful reflection on value and essence; as well as his pondering on what it means to think under the sun, and his overwhelming and poignant Agesilaus Santander texts, written here on the island, during two consecutive days, in August, 1933.
Walter Benjamin Archive series, July 2018 - on going, inject ink, charcoal, glue, cloth, pastel color, unprimed linen. 12 panels, 24”x82” ,each.
24”x 82” (60x208cm )
The work witnesses, reflects on, and echoes Walter Benjamin’s texts and letters written in Eivissa, (under the sun, a place for the valuable, the StoryTeller and his expressed interest in local Eivissian - Eivissa being the native name for Ibiza - myths) during his two prolonged 1932-33 stays in the island, in what would become the beginning of his forced exile and eventual tragic death. It accompanies his archives of beautifully drawn Hebrew words, marking his experience while studying Hebrew, in times working and living in Jerusalem, near his friend Gershom (Gerhard) Sholem, still seemed a possible, though unchartered and vague route for salvation. His choice of words for his experiments in Hebrew calligraphy is exhilarating and at times prophetic, illuminating poetically his underlying interests and inner preoccupations. the work follows his encounter with the Eivissean payesa house, its architecture and mysterious inner space, an encounter that awakens a beautiful reflection on value and essence; as well as his pondering on what it means to think under the sun, and his overwhelming and poignant Agesilaus Santander texts, written here on the island, during two consecutive days, in August, 1933.
Walter Benjamin Archive series, July 2018 - on going, inject ink, charcoal, glue, cloth, pastel color, unprimed linen. 12 panels, 24”x82” ,each.
WB SILENT SCREAM
Walter Benjamin Archive Serie
Panel 1+2
July 2018- Dec 2020
82” x 48” ( 82” x 24” x 2 )
Inject ink, charcoal, glue, cloth, pastel color, unprimed linen
WB ANGEL, SOULS, SCREAM.
Walter Benjamin Archive Serie
Panel 3 & 4 of a 12 panel serie.
July 2018- Dec 2020
82” x 48” (82” x 24” x 2 )
Injected ink, charcoal, glue, cloth, pastel color, unprimed linen
ANGEL, SOULS, SCREAM.
Walter Benjamin Archive Serie
Panel 5&6 7&8
of a 12 panel serie.
July 2018- 2021
48” x 94” ( 24” x 94” x 2 )
( vertical panels )
Injected ink, charcoal, glue, cloth, pastel color, unprimed linen
Walter Benjamin Archive Serie
Panel 5&6 7&8
of a 12 panel serie.
July 2018- 2021
48” x 94” ( 24” x 94” x 2 )
( vertical panels )
Injected ink, charcoal, glue, cloth, pastel color, unprimed linen
FLÂNERIE de ROT:
Let Redness Imbue Thee
Walter Benjamin Archive Serie
Panel 9&10 of a 12 panel serie.
July 2018- Jan 2021
24”x214“ {60x545cm} [vertical]
Injected ink, unprimed linen, Acrylic, pencil, charcoal, pastel.
Let Redness Imbue Thee
Walter Benjamin Archive Serie
Panel 9&10 of a 12 panel serie.
July 2018- Jan 2021
24”x214“ {60x545cm} [vertical]
Injected ink, unprimed linen, Acrylic, pencil, charcoal, pastel.
ROTitude
Rot* c'est comme un papillon qui va se poser sur chacune des nuances de la couleur rouge. **
Walter Benjamin, on Haschisch.
**Rot is like a butterfly that lands on every shade of the color red.
( translation by author)
* ROT - WB uses the German ROT in the
french text.
ROT German=Rouge French=Red English.
Rot* c'est comme un papillon qui va se poser sur chacune des nuances de la couleur rouge. **
Walter Benjamin, on Haschisch.
**Rot is like a butterfly that lands on every shade of the color red.
( translation by author)
* ROT - WB uses the German ROT in the
french text.
ROT German=Rouge French=Red English.
Flânerie de Rot
preparation for Benjamin Archive intervention .
Arches paper 9x14” and ink, Jan 2021
preparation for Benjamin Archive intervention .
Arches paper 9x14” and ink, Jan 2021
If only for a moment Reditude
If only for a moment be
A butterfly. your flapping
Wings as thin as airy silk,
Will glide vermillion
Labyrinthine alleys.
If only for a moment,
Let yourself be penetrated
By every carmine tone,
Permeated by every
Crimson shade.
Your whole being is,
For a moment, colour,
for a moment Reditude.
If only for a moment be
A butterfly. your flapping
Wings as thin as airy silk,
Will glide vermillion
Labyrinthine alleys.
If only for a moment,
Let yourself be penetrated
By every carmine tone,
Permeated by every
Crimson shade.
Your whole being is,
For a moment, colour,
for a moment Reditude.
"Laboratoire du Rouge"
Colors can exert an uncommonly powerful impression upon the smoker. A corner in S[elz]'s room was decorated with scarves hanging on the wall. A pair of tumblers filled with flowers were sitting on a crate, which was draped over with a lace scarf.
In the scarf and flowers various shades of red predominated. At an advanced stage of the fête I suddenly discovered this nook.
It had an almost deafening effect upon me. Instantaneously I realized that, using this incomparable tool, my task was discover the sense of the color. I called this nook the "Laboratoire du Rouge". My first attempt to take on this project was not successful. I came back to it later, however. At the moment, my only recollection of
the attempt is that the formulation of the question has been postponed. It was, granted, a more universal one and concerned colors in general. It appeared to me that, above all, their distinctive characteristic possessed form, [and] that they were completely identical to the material in which they appeared. Although they appeared completely the same in the most dissimilar things --e.g. a flower petal and a piece of paper-- they appeared as mediator or matchmaker of the material realm; only by means of them did the most distant objects have the power of combining perfectly with one another.
WALTER BENJAMIN, ON HASCHISCH,
(have to revise original text, English translation, source , etc )
In the scarf and flowers various shades of red predominated. At an advanced stage of the fête I suddenly discovered this nook.
It had an almost deafening effect upon me. Instantaneously I realized that, using this incomparable tool, my task was discover the sense of the color. I called this nook the "Laboratoire du Rouge". My first attempt to take on this project was not successful. I came back to it later, however. At the moment, my only recollection of
the attempt is that the formulation of the question has been postponed. It was, granted, a more universal one and concerned colors in general. It appeared to me that, above all, their distinctive characteristic possessed form, [and] that they were completely identical to the material in which they appeared. Although they appeared completely the same in the most dissimilar things --e.g. a flower petal and a piece of paper-- they appeared as mediator or matchmaker of the material realm; only by means of them did the most distant objects have the power of combining perfectly with one another.
WALTER BENJAMIN, ON HASCHISCH,
(have to revise original text, English translation, source , etc )
Study for intervention. Walter Benjamin Archive. Arches paper, ink, acrylic, pencil. 9”x 28”. Jan 2021
לוולטר בנימין
כִּצְדָפָה שֶהועלתָה בָּאוֹב
נִשְאֲבְתִּי בְּמָבָּטך
לעין הסְעָרָה
למַעֳרבּוֹלֶת
שְתִּישָאֲנִי עִמך
אל הֶעָתיד ממנו בָּאנו
ואל הבַּיִת שְמעולָם
לֹא עֲזָבְנוּ
IN MEMORIUM
9/26/1940
to Walter Benjamin
like a pearl conjured
from the bottom of the
sea, your gaze pulled me
towards the storm and
the whirlwind that would
carry us back to the
future we came from and
to a home we never left.
EN MEMORIA 26/9/1940
Para Walter Benjamín
como una perla conjurada
desde el fondo del mar,
tu mirada me atrajo hacia
la tormenta y el torbellino
que nos llevaría al futuro
de donde venimos, retornando a la casa que nunca dejamos.