idelett de la bat
bringing the halves together
art. b. gallery, november 2012
exploded balloons, staples, thread, gelatine and ink
11cm x 27cm x 29cm
dimensions variable
artist statement
The fact that I am a visual art student, together with a natural inclination to figure out systems led me to try and understand the creative process. As creativity is a frustratingly elusive concept, I started to explore it in terms of the mental processes involved. A highly developed brain coordinates our activities but thinks in two distinct, even opposing ways. One half of this dual control centre consists of a verbal, rational left brain that thinks serially and reduces its thoughts to numbers, letters and words. The non-verbal, intuitive right brain on the other hand, thinks in patterns, or pictures, composed of whole things. If I take the brain as my point of departure, creativity branches out in an infinite number of ways to explore. The focus of this body of work is to bring the halves together in order to develop our full creative potential.
A quote by Murray la Vita: “What an intimate, small, creative deed, to inflate a balloon” instigated my use of balloons in reference to the creative process. Its organic feel and the ability to be formed into patterns that simulates the folds of the brain, added to its relevance with regards to the concept. Thread and staples became the means by which everything is worked together into a whole. Further research revealed a textural relation between the consistency of the brain and that of gelatine. I started to experiment with gelatine sheets because of its ability to create serial, structured forms in left brain reference. Words refer to its verbal attributes. In reference to the right brain the thread and staples became a means of silencing the words, by covering and working it back. This synergy between left and right culminated in a work called: Mind map. The combination of letters, numbers, colours and pictures engage the left and right sides of the brain. In a mind map each side of the brain simultaneously feeds off the strengths of the other in a manner which provides limitless creative potential.
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