Michèle Landsaat | The Alchemy of Love will be on exhibition March 3rd - April 29th, 2023.
ARTIST STATEMENT
At times in life there are reminders that somewhere along the way something unconditionally flawless was lost. Sometimes loss is mundane: the little deaths one experiences during a simple day, such as a fleeting feeling time flew by and night has come before you’re ready. Other times, the feeling of absence is much bigger: the death of a love, the vanquishment of a dream, or whatever the heart holds most dear. This kind has the potential to tear one limb from limb, and you find yourself in utter darkness underneath the graves of the world.
At such a depth, questions might materialize: ‘What was really lost?' ‘When was it lost?’ ‘Is it personal or impersonal?’ A sojourn here, shatters clocks and dissolves the thin veil that divides life and death. It’s an imposed cooking in the flames of the intertwined nature of love and loss, as well as the impenetrable mystery of some elusive truth.
For the alchemists, the process of turning lead into gold involved, among other things, subjecting substances to extreme conditions in order to achieve their opus. Loss, and the coinciding enigmatic experiences, are a type of extreme condition. Perhaps when space is made to endure these trials, the gold that was really lost is bound to emerge.
The Alchemy of Love, is an attempt to put images to this type of experience and to move with the feelings and physicality of it.