Katerina Verguelis

Katerina Verguelis

My first and greatest inspiration – is the material of glass in its original state. Glass is born in flames, a liquid that prompts the artist to be in a constant movement, and when it cools down is like time stops. Its similarity to ice makes me feel that a moment in time eternalizes itself there.
The focus on glass sculpting created the merge of concept and technique. The organic shapes of the pieces accentuate the texture giving it an extra value.
In my research of forms and textures, I turn to the fundamentals of Biology. In an attempt to demonstrate the material from within, I take my inspiration in an almost literal dissection of myself and the outside world. Visual researches in the field of Biology of the processes under the microscope, organic micro-organism, cell-division and blood vessels structure – all those natural processes are in constant movement. In stopping and freezing this movement I feel as if I murder the moment of mobility but simultaneously I make an imprint of time that stays invincible. One of the most exclusive characteristics of glass is its inaptitude to decomposition – supports a disposition to halt biological processes and eternalize them, thus repressing death drive.
Pure glass manifests the natural processes in my works when the main purpose is the dissociation of these forms from their original context. Cold fluorescent light sheds the shades of surgical cleanliness. The texture created on the surface of the objects transforms ‘cold,’ smooth and shiny, – natural qualities of glass, into ´hot´, pleasant and curious to touch.
The purpose here is to invite the spectator and tempt one who wants to touch it that doesn’t go without saying. For me, that very paradox of seducing the spectator into touching Glass, the material that normally is not tactile-friendly – is the climax of the spectatorship experience. It’s an acceptance and recognition (registering) of the biological form on a genetic-visual-unconscious plain.
Slicing parts off the objects, I strip them showing their inner selves depriving them of their primordial wholeness, closure, dispose them of impeccability.
The clean and transparent cut reveals and highlights textual and shape organics of glass mass giving birth to a new visual experience. The boundary between the glass and its surroundings disappears and we begin to see that material from within such as the wide cuts divide not the glass but its inner space.
My vision is to bring the old heritage of glassmaking traditions deep into Israeli Glass Art and I aspire to elevate the notion of ‘craft’ to a new level. I am eager to resurrect and preserve the old traditions adding the elements of modernity so for the craft to re-emerge as an Art again.