Oriel Zinaburg’s abstract sculptural pieces explore the relationship between what is logically and mathematically constructed and the fluidity of emotion. Creating tension between control and chance, his work gives no clear answer and leaves the viewer feeling distended by its beautiful mystery.
Inspired by landscape, geology and art, he is repeatedly looking for a response to the traditional vessel form based on the Japanese aesthetic of beauty in imperfection and irregularity.
His objects embody the characteristics of the creative act: an open-ended process where the final piece is not preconceived but the result of a series of unpremeditated actions. To retain this sense of open-endedness, he uses a collage-like technique in which the fragments are pieced together by intuition and chance. He starts the process by using press moulds and slab building techniques. Whilst the clay is still soft, he tears, folds and distorts it. The materiality of the clay dictates the way in which the folds take shape. Every passing moment of creation informs the next, as do the material's intrinsic properties and the forces to which it is subject.
The result is a mass of juxtaposed forms that encourage the viewer to move around the object while exploring and discovering new relationships between light and shadow, solid and void.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oriel studied fine art at the Bezalel Academy for Fine Art & Design in Jerusalem. He was awarded the Eileen Gray Scholarship to train at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. His current practive in ceramics started in 2015.