My Sculptural Cosmos: A Personal Journey
- Berny Fink
- 7 days ago
- 5 min read
Berny Fink
Born in Johannesburg South Africa in 1942, from a very young age I was influenced by Zionist youth movement meetings and activities where I created
the very first of 55 public sculptures which I ultimately made over many years. We had been imbued with the values of life and the love of the young State of Israel. At age 17, I became one of the founding members of the Hachshara training farm 25 miles from Johannesburg on the Potchefstroom Road. My dream was to live on a kibbutz in Israel and after two amazing years together, my closest friends and I made aliya to Israel, where we settled on Kibbutz Yizre'el as the group called Garin Alon, named after the accidental death of Alon Razer, a prominent member of an earlier Habonim Garin. (In 1962 the two Zionist youth movements, Dror and Habonim, had amalgamated)
We had realized our Zionist dream. There my wife and love of my life, Dorit, gave birth to our three sons.
During my early years on the kibbutz there was little time for a
budding young artist to express himself. Consequently, I used to paint in my spare time, on rainy days and during part of the off-season. Triumphantly, at the age of 26 I carved four African-like faces on a beautiful red wooden log and my very first sculpture was born!
One day while ploughing, I unearthed a massive oblong rock. I managed to drag it home thinking that if I could chisel an oval shaped hole through one side, I would be able to create anything I desired? Using an ordinary hammer and a chisel, within 3 days, I created my first abstract stone sculpture.
I next began joining and welding old parts of farm implements in the metal workshop where I had built and repaired farm implements. Outside the building, I worked on stone using air electric and hand tools, my early works being very much inspired by my South African roots. Primitive-like figurines and masks were typical.
My life changed in the winter of 1970 when I spent three months in the studio of my good sculptor friend, the late Matanya Abramson in Old Jaffa. He was, at that time, exhibiting in New York. He said: " Take my studio and take my car and have a ball"! I did just that. I worked day and night alongside other artists.
By then I had accumulated enough art to exhibit! As a result, in 1971, I had my first exhibition at the then-famous Katz Gallery in Tel Aviv. I received a positive review in the Jerusalem Post, and, together with a few sales, I was generously granted one day a week for pursuing my art by the Kibbutz.
In 1973, I exhibited sculptures and drawings at the Andromeda. In 1977, at my request to work in Italy, I was granted a full year of study in Pietrasanta, the world-wide “Mecca” of stone sculpture. This led to a one-man show at the Centro Arte Moderne in Pisa, where I participated in the annual International Sculpture Exhibition in the main piazza of Pietrasanta. After a fruitful year, living together with a young French sculptor in a house opposite the magnificent Mt. Altissimo, I returned to Israel with the 21 abstract marble sculptures that I had created there.
Having seen so many similar beautiful semi-abstract figures by sculptors from across the world over, I modestly came to realize that I, indeed, had become one of them! I had learned " what not to do", so my new works from Italy brought about experimentation and major changes to my work. In Pietrasanta, I had met and befriended established sculptors, including the great Isamu Noguchi, whose works opened my eyes to new directions.
When I returned home, I discovered that the kibbutz had closed down its sheep dairy. I was quick to set up a table in the deserted building! I placed a block of stone on it and started to work! I began to relate to the scenic surroundings, the historical, the biblical and other events that had taken place in the area. Here was born the conflict that took place between Elijah and Ahab and Jezebel regarding the vineyard of Navot the Yizre'elite and the Canaanite gods, Baal and Astarte. Hence, I was inspired to have two exhibitions on the rituals of mankind and was invited to group shows and many symposia.
By this time, I had already started to gaze skyward. In 1983, I was commissioned to make 3 stone walls and a memorial site for kibbutz Givat Haim Meuhad. Now, with such success, I was granted 3 days a week for my art by the Kibbutz, plus the time needed for various projects. We developed the studio and a beautiful sculpture garden overlooking the Jezreel valley where my son Omri and I work and teach.
In 1985, the model I had submitted for consideration, was chosen out of 99 others to become the monument to the Jewish Soldiers & Partisans who fought against Nazi Germany, for Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. I returned to Pietrasanta to create this gigantic monument. I felt honored to be able to create something of great substance for the Jewish people. The inauguration ceremony took place on the 40th Anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany. It was unveiled
by the late Yitzhak Rabin, at the time, the Israeli minister of defense. Veterans from around the world attended the ceremony. My late father was amongst many others who proudly wore their war medals.
I am very thankful to this day that the vast majority of my fellow kibbutz members understood the importance and cultural value of our creations. For over 40 years I have worked as a full-time artist in an exceptionally open-minded kibbutz.
" My Cosmos" is one of my many projects in which I now create objects in stone, metal, concrete and synthetic materials. I also draw, paint, take photos, and make digital images.
My “cosmos and cosmic events” are inspired by mankind's endeavors to explore the heavens above through the telescope on one end and the microscope on the other, both these instruments reaching their limits only to arrive at new and unknown beginnings. The laws of nature are very much the same on both ends! My thoughts relate to aspects of cosmic activity like gravity, the speed of light, sound waves, and the like.
The endless questions about the unknown fertilize and fuel my curiosity. Will my imagination and acquired experience allow me to create and improvise in my very own language? What will trigger a potentially creative idea?
After 61 years of marriage and happiness, my wife passed away just over a year ago. I continue to work.
(Artworks are not displayed in chronological order of production)
