Dana Melamed

Statement

The development of cities from an architectural, historical, social and political points of view has always fascinated me. I have been exploring the influence of human behavior on society, in particular the pattern of aggression among civilizations for over a decade now. Taking inspiration from Piranesi's etching, Goya's Disasters of Wars and Anselm Kiefer's deteriorating landscapes, I’ve been creating bodies of work, including wall sculptures of fictional deserted cities turned into wastelands.

The power struggle between humanity and the environment is the subject of my more recent work. This narrative is depicted in a series of assembled wall sculptures, each one is a unique urban topography. Graphic elements turned into complexed chaotic spaces with internal curving staircases, evoking the spiral structure of a DNA or a living organism. The sense of nature reclaiming her land is conveyed in the heavily stressed surfaces transformed into decayed structure ruins.

The irreparable damage inflicted by mankind throughout the centuries is also reflected by my choice of materials and use of destructive techniques. I compose my work layer upon layer, fusing scratched patches of foil, paper, wood, found industrial objects, and wires onto an aluminum mesh. The integration results in an irregular three-dimensional surface that is rugged yet fragile at the same time.