
Stéphanie Saadé
Second Nature, 2014
Gold leaf on broken glass
5x7cm
Edition of 5 plus 1 artist's proof
The broken sides of a drinking glass are covered with gold leaf. The gold seems to emerge from the cut sides, as if the glass bled gold and as if...
The broken sides of a drinking glass are covered with gold leaf. The gold seems to emerge from the cut sides, as if the glass bled gold and as if we could see its inside, its real nature. The same way as one bleeds blood when wounded: what comes out of the wound is of different nature than what we see from the outside. And the only way to access this inside is through a cut, a breach, an alteration of the object's integrity. This opening gives us information about the object that we could not have otherwise. Instead of being used as an ornamental technique, the gilding here highlights the dangerous dimension of the object. A small beautiful weapon. As in other works by Saadé, the precious gold is associated with the damaged part of a worthless object (In Travel Diary, the gold is applied on the folds, the damaged parts of worthless printed papers).
"Second Nature’s most damaged part is gilded and given a second life. Its sharpest edges,
traces of an accident or a deliberate act of violence, become its asset.”
"Second Nature’s most damaged part is gilded and given a second life. Its sharpest edges,
traces of an accident or a deliberate act of violence, become its asset.”
Provenance
Water, group exhibition at Marfa', 2021Courtesy of Marfa’ Projects
Copyright The Artist
Youssef Itani