Roots an transitions

The sculptures of Siegfried Barth are created from roots, mostly from olive trees. Those who have seen an olive tree root are fascinated by its twisted structure of a thousand embraces, criss-crossed by a quantity of boughs and passages, resistant to any foreign intervention. Taken from the soil, it gives off a vibrant vitality that demands respect.

This type of rebel root doesn’t lend itself to sculptures conceived on a sheet of drawing paper. The artist cannot get near to it without observing it, studying it and living with it for some time. So it’s not surprising that the subconscious is excited by this never dead, unyielding material. From observing it, associations, possible interpretations and even spectres are born. The root undergoes metamorphoses according to the artist´s intervention to free, little by little, a vision. From transition to transition, new ways of interpretation are opened up. But many times however the artist ends by pulling back and starting afresh.

Miguel Mosquito