blow with the wind is a sculptural intervention on a pair of curved metal shapes located on the sidewalk at Klosteret 2 in Bergen. The metal frames have previously been used to display information signs in the street. The two frames look like portals, and also give associations to round-arched windows, the kind one might find in old churches.
In her new work, Nel fills the two curved metal shapes with sheets of natural latex that she has created in her studio. The texture and sight of Nel's sculptures is there to be noticed and explored by passers-by, a sudden change in their everyday surroundings, highlighting and using shapes that one often doesn't notice or pay attention to. The sudden appearance of the strange material that is now inhabiting the frames may spark curiosity and a closer inspection.
Latex is the soft white substance found beneath the bark of a mature rubber tree. The material is liquid, but dries fast, and in its dry form it has a skin-like feel. Latex is a material many artists have explored, among them Kaari Upson and Lynda Benglis, with her pieces made by pouring latex on to the floor. It is a similar technique Nel has worked with when creating her sculptures for the street in Bergen.
Throughout the exhibition period, the artist will change, modify and add to the structures of latex, and the latex will also degrade due to the weather, wind and being touched by people. The artist is interested in the joy of touching things, forming them into new shapes and, in so doing, having our own bodily materiality reaffirmed.
Kobie Nel's working methods are based on working on site, doing fieldwork, photographing, filming, writing and material experiments. Often her projects draw on archives, history, ritual and ecological awareness.
