Nachum Enbar : Ars Sculptura

Sculptor and His Sculpture is the theme of Nachum Enbar's (b. 1940, Kibbutz Shefayim; lives and works in Tel Aviv) current series of sculptures; different compositions of the sculptor next to the sculpture he created. But Sculptor and His Sculpture is not only a title, but also Enbar's wish for total unity between the artist and his work. It is, however, the very act of sculpting which embodies concept in matter—a process that begins with a block of stone and ends with the completion of a sculpture that faces its creator—is what guarantees the failure of the idea. If you will, the desire to unite sculptor and sculpture entails the inevitable negation of this possibility. What if we nevertheless seek a way to call Enbar's aspiration for unity successful? In that case we will have to admit that an impossible circumstance had to exist: we will imagine Enbar exerting himself carving a sculpture, for example a statue in the image of Lot's wife, and at a certain moment, just as he finishes shaping her eyes in the block of salt, which he chose as the material suitable for the work, the direct gaze between them is disrupted, and somehow both of them look back and become a pillar of salt, together. The wish has come true: the salt sculpture now standing upright is the object that sustains the unity of sculptor and sculpture. As such, it is unique, last and final, serving as a monument.

But Enbar's sculptures are not monuments. They are sculptures that celebrate the act of sculpting: they are the result of direct work in stone; they relate to the rigidity of the materials, the surface textures, the dimensions of the block and its inherent composition, as well as the arbitrary behavior of the stone and the act of subtracting it. Moreover, the sculptures in question preserve traces of the creative processes (the chiseled paths, different degrees of finish, remnants of deliberations), signs that convey the pleasure of sculpture which seeks neither the last sculpture (the monument) nor the one sculpture (unity), but rather a multiplicity of more and more sculptures, out of a belief in sculpture. And the belief in sculpture, does it not seek unity in a desire for the ideal of unity, which is a characteristic of divinity? We can answer this by yes and no. Ancient King, Griffon, Archaic Figure, Molech—all of these are titles of sculptures by Enbar, sculptures modeled from memory of the magical power, the religious baggage, and the ritual power inherent in sculpture. This mystical spirit, the spirit of the ancient land, the spirit of antiquity, the spirit of regional mythologies and local crafts—is the one that blows in Enbar's sculpture today; this time, however, it is directed at the art world and at sculpture itself. Bear in mind that Enbar tackled sculptural issues already in his earlier sculptures: Balance, Equilibrium, Fracture, Support, Abstract, and Restrained Movement, to name but a few of the sculptures whose titles suffice to indicate Enbar's great interest in pure artistic values, and not only in the power of sculpture in a world of kings and idols. So these are the two elements underlying the series Sculptor and His Sculpture—sculptural issues pertaining to matter and form on the one hand, and conceptual issues pertaining to religious aspects on the other, and this is also the basis for the result we see before us: sculptures depicting the sculptor next to his sculpture, with powerful sculptural expression and magical spirit—a series in which he chose to model a self-portrait as well.

The exhibition "Ars Sculptura" at Gordon Gallery, in which these sculptures were featured in April 2020, continued the renewed acquaintance with Enbar, following the exposure of his sculptures at Artport Gallery, Tel Aviv earlier that year (as part of the group exhibition "Welcome to Jaffa," curator: Vardit Gross). Enbar, a sculptor who reached the age of eighty, summons a renewed encounter with the roots of Israeli sculpture and art through contemporary practice. The seeds of abstraction in Enbar's work were planted in his youth, when he studied art in the studio of Avraham Yaskil and Zvi Mairovich in Haifa (where he also studied sculpture with Aaron Krochmalnik-Amlan), an abstraction that was later honed in his studies with Michael Gross (at Oranim College). A more significant influence occurred when he studied with Moshe Sternschuss and Dov Feigin (at the Avni Institute, Tel Aviv, where Yehezkel Streichman, Moshe Mokady, and others also taught). Their influence can be traced mainly to Enbar's abstract sculpture, but it was other artists from the New Horizons group who left their mark on his work: Itzhak Danziger, Yehiel Shemi, and Kosso Eloul, as well as other sculptures, such as those by Avraham Melnikov and Rudi Lehmann. In this context one ought to mention Spanish-American sculptor José de Creeft, with whom Enbar studied in mid-1960s New York, as one who taught him the secrets of direct sculpture in stone. If Enbar owes the stone to de Creeft, then one may also trace affinities in his work to a tradition, parts of which have been defined as "Canaanite," but without the Canaanite ideology (from Yonatan Ratosh's circle). Here we have the origins of Enbar's sculpture: a modernist education, professional training, a mythological spirit, a primitivist influence, and a connection to the place. It remains only to congratulate Enbar on the patience and perseverance, and that his work has come to light.