Marit Meisler is the daughter of the renowned artist, Frank Meisler. As a well-respected artist in her own right, Ms. Meisler has created this new and unique collection as an on-going dialogue with her father’s legacy. She incorporates references to his thematic range by referencing his technical processes, subject matters and acclaim.
9 TEXTUTED METAL CASTS & 24K GOLD PLATING
(INITIAL graphic sketches before production)
Nine textured metal cast plaques are mounted on a wall. These plaques are made from the original ornate textures Frank Meisler used in many of his intricate sculptures. On this textured surface, an image is created using varying amounts of black paint in the recesses of the metal. Gold, the second most dominant color in Frank’s
original palette, is applied here over the texture, leaving the texture visible. The image is a self-portrait, vulnerable and intimate, with three city skylines overlaid on it.
Material: Cast aluminum, 24k gold plating, sand blasting, acrylic paint. 26'X26'
METAL ON METAL
The "Metal on Metal" collection, created by Marit Meisler, is a series of wall art images that draw inspiration from the intricate surface details of sculptures created by her father Frank Meisler together with her own.
In 1981, Frank pioneered the creation of the first Jerusalem sphere, an innovative piece that was inspired by the Middle-Ages Bünting cloverleaf map. This map depicted Jerusalem as the world's center, nestled between three continents. Taking this two-dimensional concept, he ingeniously transformed it into a three-dimensional sphere. During this creative period, Frank utilized Styrofoam as the primary material for his sculptures, which were later cast into metal. This process resulted in metal surfaces that were richly textured, marked by a rough exterior. These distinctive surface details served as the foundation for Marit's new creations.
In this collection, Marit incorporates three metal sculpture images against these textured backgrounds: a creatively altered image of her concrete version of the Jerusalem sphere and her new designs of a Lioness and Horse. These images are intricately blended into the metal surfaces. The final artwork is digitally printed onto aluminum sheets, introducing a triple "layering" of metal. Additionally, these pieces can be enlarged, together or separately, offering versatility in display and a broader visual impact.
"Metal on Metal Sphere". Material: Digital Metal Print. Size: H47 x W47 x L4 cm (18,5″X 18.5″X 1.5″)
"Metal on Metal Lioness". Material: Digital Metal Pint. Size: H47 x W47 x L4 cm (18,5″X 18.5″X 1.5″)
"Metal on Metal Horse". Material: Digital Metal Print. Size: H47 x W47 x L4 cm (18,5″X 18.5″X 1.5″)
CONCRETE JERUSALEM SPHERES
The “Jerusalem Sphere”, perhaps the most iconic of the senior Meisler’s work, receives a new interpretation through Ms. Meisler’s contemporary vocabulary. The dialogue she creates between the two artifacts is profound. Entirely distinct from the original, Ms. Meisler’s take on the ‘Meisler Sphere’ while stripping it from its high-end characteristics, presenting it in a bare and minimalist form.
In this sphere collection, the materials used are the classic gray, white and dark-gray concrete. The material variations extend to the presence or absence of gold leaf details on the concrete, and the positioning is either standing bare or mounted onto the original stone base.
"Concrete Jerusalem Sphere". Material: Gray/White/Black concrete. Size: H13cm x W13cm x L13cm. Weight: 1.6 Kg.
"Black on Black". Material: Black concrete, black marble base. Size: H23cm x W13cm x L13cm. Weight: 3 Kg.
"Gray & Gold". Material: Gray concrete, Gold Leaf. Size: H13cm x W13cm x L13cm. Weight: 1.6 Kg.
GOLD MOLD
Frank Meisler delicately made a model of a custom portrait and at the time had a negative plaster mold made from it. Into this 4-part plaster mold wax was poured and in the “lost wax” technique, the wax became metal resulting in the original sculpture.
Taking only one-quarter of her father’s 4-part plaster mold as a starting point, Ms. Meisler used this fragment of the original negative plaster mold to produce a metamorphosis. Reversing the roles of positive /negative, she made a new mold from the quarter plaster mold, which produced yet another negative impression (of the original negative). Wax was then poured, the metal was cast, and the final solid metal sculpture was formed. Interestingly, the presence of the masking tape which held the original mold together still lingers, but now the object achieves a heightened luxury when adorned with 24K gold plating. In her work here, Ms. Meisler has cunningly reversed what is regarded as ‘high-end’ (metal and gold) with the ‘low-end ‘(plaster). By the end of this complicated process and concept, the original portrait of the individual is no longer relevant.
"High Mold". Material: Aluminum, 24K gold plating, concrete base. Size: H36cm x W8cm x L6cm. Weight: 0.8 Kg.
"Metal Mold". Material: Aluminum. Size: H10cm x W8cm x L6cm. 0.3 Kg.
ONE QUARTER CONCRETE HEAD
One quarter of the original Frank Meisler metal portrait sculpture is reintroduced in raw concrete with a concrete block as a part of it. The deliberately broken edges of the block create a sharp contrast to the realistic head. When mounted on black stone, the center line of the head is off-set while the concrete block edge aligns with the edge of the black stone. The fractured lements and the volume of the block become as dominant as the head itself making this new sculpture differ in its intentions from the original.
"1/4 concrete head on a base". Material: Concrete, black marble base. Size: H16cm x W6cm x L11cm. Weight: 0.8 Kg.
"1/4 concrete head mounted directly on the wall". Material: Concrete. Size: H11cm x W5cm x L6cm. Weight: 0.1 Kg.
