"THE BEAUTY OF THE MYTH"

(an exhibition of 11 works, November 5, 1995)
"The Artist House" Rishon Letzion, Israel.

In this exhibition I am showing works of mixed techniques: sand, colors and solid
elements.
Throughout the space of the canvass I've created rich and complex textures of
various character...opaque, dense, and rugged with tones that are both
delicate and natural. These textures override, in comparison, their
backgrounds which are of a soft, transparent, brilliant and colorful
character.

The compositions are created by the play of a limited number of elements,
those which are the most elemental of geometry: shown in a purely simple form.
The use of the three elements are;  circle, square and triangle sometimes
interlaced or united by a  type of  ray or "thread" which accentuates the
seriousness of the composition..

The general impression of the constructions resembles Iconos, at times Altares
or platforms of ancient cult.

In each work exists a unique construction, that which accentuates and sharpens
the sensation  which the viewer see before him, a sacred tablet or
of an altar "tableau" or an artefact of a pagan cult of abstract character, in which
is found a mixture of the ancient and the future.

The color is reserved and earthy.  In some accents I use ornamental elements
that break the harshness and somberness of the compositions.

In this series, I display a gallery of platforms or expressions which
characterize the "symmetrical air" of the compositions, which contributes to
the ritual nature of the theme.

Alex Perez.
Oct. 1995. Israel

THE IDEA BEHIND THE SERIES "THE BEAUTY OF THE MYTH"

The plastic arts, equal to other art forms, has profound roots in the cult of
myth and ritual, be they religious, pagan or folkloric.

In all of human history, different cultures had the need to resume and express
in a simple and impressionistic form, the sublime... incomprehensible and
eternal, gods, deities and heroes, and especially the invisible.

Man in his search for signs and forms, feels an identity with  the sublime: He
create, he creates, he use and he uses a great variety of forms, signs and
characters. Each one of these symbols, be they separate or in conjunction with
each other, is used with the intent of causing in the believer or viewer, a
reaction of a mystic nature.

The symbols, be they of a religious, political, military, folkloric,
technological, scientific or commercial nature, have generally been of a basic
and simple geometric structure.  The fundamental characteristic of a graphic
sign or symbol, is the ease with which the human being remembers it, and even
more so if this form or collection of forms has within them a "symmetry".

Nowadays, our modern society creates graphic symbols and forms with which the
masses identify, thus creating differences among social or ethnic groups: be
they political symbols of Politics or of Transportation. In the case of
Transportation these symbols would be universal for a common understanding.
There are the commercial symbols as well, those which are the most known and
favorite, McDonalds and Coca Cola, for example.
All three basic geometric forms are of a symmetric nature;  the circle, the
square and the equal-sided triangle.

Symmetry is a "secret", a "magic"....and it is very complex.

The human being in is quest of understanding relationships:
"MAN-MATTER", "MATTER - UNIVERSE", "MAN-CREATION" discovers
the Symmetry, that
which helps him construct a concept of order, which in turn carries him to a
fundamental and necessary harmony.

In my personal journey towards the "destruction" of the Symmetric, or better
yet, on my road for "the narrow path" between Symmetry and Asymmetry, or the
"least symmetric possible", I find myself occupied with a type of "technical
and artistic ritual" which expresses itself in the preparatory studies, in the
investigation and in the expression of the work itself.

As my work progresses in its course, I find myself more and more occupied in
the studies of archeology, anthropology and physics as they relate to artistic
expression.  In this series, "THE BEAUTY OF THE MYTH" I have concentrated
most on graphic expressions of religion, rites, cults and myths..

The final result of all my impressions of these studies and investigations
expresses itself in the construction of a concept of abstract character, in
which I neither use or repeat identities, symbols or graphic expressions
either Mythic or Religious, known or identifiable.

These 'results' or 'final works', are only a game of possibilities and
personal 'translations' over the "aesthetics of the myth" and, without wanting
to, I see myself ' realizing' or 'working the material' in a ritual all its own and
from this form comes a new, changing and variable space.

The aesthetic that accompanies the Ritual, the Myth, the Fettish and the
Religions....is eternal and its beauty is of simple forms, in the basic meaning
of the word.  It is therefore inclided to "Symmetry".

SYMMETRY  IS  A  BASIC  TOOL  FOR  CREATING  HARMONY

Alex Perez.
Nov. 1995
Israel.

(AN EXPLANATION OF MY WORK IN "THE BEAUTY OF THE MYTH")