Artist: Zoro Feigl
Exhibition title: Sea-change
Venue: Fred & Ferry, Antwerp, Belgium
Date: October 25 – November 28, 2020
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Fred & Ferry, Antwerp
The moving artworks of Zoro Feigl are a visual spectacle, a caress to the eye. We are immediately attracted to them and remain fascinated by their presence. In the gallery space of FRED&FERRY Feigl hangs rotating discs coated with a layer of temperature-sensitive lacquer. The hot water that flows over it creates shades of color and changing patterns. A similar effect is obtained by Feigl with a rotating vat of oil and dye. We see a gradual overflow from one form to another. From the continuous movement constantly changing motifs are formed. The unique appearances, temporariness and unpredictability, makes us curious about what is coming and keeps the work fascinating.
‘Sea-change’ is the title of his exhibition at FRED&FERRY, which refers to metamorphosis or change. Life is slipping and changing from one thing to another. Everything is constantly changing and the constant is movement. Feigl plays with this and his work sheds light on that. He creates interaction between energies, whereby forms dance around each other and constantly take on different patterns. We like to look at it because we are alert for change. We like nothing better than to perceive and respond to what is happening. In his work dynamics are explicitly present and that’s why we are drawn into his installations.
Particularly beautiful in simplicity and subtlety is the shadow play of balls on a circular construction hanging from the ceiling. The balls move gracefully like a swarm of birds flying through the air. Feigl opts for simplicity in the use of materials and forces and in the design that promotes functionality. The attractiveness of his work also lies in the aesthetics. We see abstracted forms that we cannot define. These are primary patterns that go back to building blocks of everything that surrounds us.
A constant in Feigl’s work are circles and loops while in everything the universe moves in rotating movements. In Feigl’s installations the continuous, circular dynamics create a calming effect and make us look mesmerized. We see variations on the same with small irregularities. The boundary between control and incalculable is fragile, but that makes the tension exciting. His work varies from large to huge. The speed and impact involved make us aware of how powerful and capricious things interact. We want to control things, but are only part of an infinitely large and changeable system.
Feigls works are temporary interventions. The installations may fall out or wear out, but he likes to resign himself to that, because that is what change is.
October 2020, Indra Devriendt
