Installations
Working in three dimensions presents challenging opportunities to an artist. Murry Handler enjoys facing this challenge and has created several major artworks in this vein. He collaborates with a master cabinetmaker, who under his direction, executes these creations.
The client asked for a wall arrangement to highlight the 22′ high ceiling with its unusual angles. A dance instructor and body movement specialist, she envisioned something that would “soar” into space. Handler created this arrangement of step-like strips, executed by a master craftsman and finished with a beautiful dark wood glow. The base anchors the arrangement with finished cabinetry of asymmetrical display shelves.
‘Dimension in Transition’
A transition from two, to three dimensions is a process that has fascinated Handler since childhood. In drawing, the illusion must be achieved with tonal shading, perspective and line. But in this three dimensional construct, Handler allows the visitor to walk around the newly defined objects, see their undersides as well as their fronts, and in the final test of validity, to touch them.
The canvas on the left, in full color, demonstrates a two dimensional aspect while the canvas on the right shows only the outline of shapes, drained of all color. The colors have now assumed dimension and take their new place on the ground.
Constructions
This series of four takes its name, “Quintiles” from the fact that each work consists of 5 canvases mounted on a wooden spine. The spine is mounted on the wall, and allows the viewer to easily slide the canvases from side to side, permitting a hands-on inter-active experience.