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The sculptures of Jehoshua Rozenman (b. 1955) are not as they first appear. They look robust, monumental, but they are in fact made of fragile glass. These mysterious pieces resemble impossible, secretive buildings that seem to come from another dimension. It is in the tension between fantasy and reality that Jehoshua Rozenman and M.C. Escher meet. This summer, for the first time, Escher in The Palace will combine the two-dimensional world of Escher with the two- and three-dimensional work of Rozenman.
Like Escher, Jehoshua Rozenman is a true craftsman. He takes his time when making his complicated sculptures, and might spend months on one piece, carefully seeking the perfect balance between figuration and abstraction. His use of materials enhances the mystery, as the glass makes his sculptures light, fragile and soft, but also dark, strong and edgy. At the nexus of art and architecture, the viewer discovers in his sculptures influences from movements like the Bauhaus, Futurism and Brutalism.
What is real and what is not? It remains unclear whether Escher’s structures really are impossible, or just appear so. We might ask the same of the work of Rozenman, who recently extended his artistic practice to include AI (artificial intelligence). He regards the technology as an assistant and a creative sparring partner; a tool to help him make his vision concrete. AI uses his input, often a model of a sculpture, to generate an image, which Rozenman adjusts until he is satisfied with it, and then makes a print. Out of the Box will show this process, and its results.
To Rozenman, Out of the Box is a trunk full of unfamiliar material that feeds his artistic practice. Concept, fantasy and craftsmanship flow and merge in his art. His new source of inspiration has led to a surprising mix of sculpture, AI prints and models, which are on show around the museum, among Escher’s work.
When Jehoshua Rozenman moved from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam in 1979, he went to study art at the Rijksakademie. After years of combining painting, video work and sculpture, in 2005 Rozenman switched to using glass to express his ideas in physical form. His sculptures have been referred to as 'anti-glass', as they look as if they are made of wax, iron or ceramics. The transient nature of life is an ever-present theme in Rozenman's work, and its organic character is a reference to nature. Jehoshua Rozenman lives and works in both Berlin and Amsterdam.
A story where fact meets fiction, by Boris O. Dittrich
For Jehoshua Rozenman, his Out of the Box project is like a strange suitcase he has found in the basement of his studio. The wide range of items he finds in this unfamiliar archive has provided an inexhaustible supply of inspiration for his work. This story by Boris O. Dittrich explores the concept of the suitcase in more depth. What do you think the suitcase contains? Is it fact or fiction?
