
Paola Yacoub
Classical Fountain O , 1993
Analogue Black and White Print on Baryta Paper
22.5 x 15 cm (unframed)
Edition 1/1 + 1AP
Copyright The Artist
Water exists in relation to the solids it shapes. On the one hand, water gives shape to solids, but conversely, solids also give shape to water when it carries them...
Water exists in relation to the solids it shapes. On the one hand, water gives shape to solids, but conversely, solids also give shape to water when it carries them away, as in floods. In most of the fountains, it is the sculpted object that conveys, controls, modulates and gives shape to the water. In Renaissance and Baroque (1888), Heinrich Wölfflin describes the forms in which water appears: the fountain, the waterfall, the water feature. These photographs capture the form taken by a jet of water when it hits a solid. The intertwining of liquids and solids offers a wealth of opportunities for unprecedented formal creation. Even floods can be festive. Only photography can capture these events, just as only Étienne-Jules Marey's chronophotography makes it possible to understand a horse's gallop. When a jet of water bumps into a solid, the shape of the jet is metamorphosed into corollas and spirals in the interplay of natural forces.
Provenance
Paola Yacoub studio Berlin, GermanyMarfa' Projects SAL, Beirut, Lebanon