Galia Amsel's Natural Selection is an exploration of form, colour, rhythm and spatial harmonies. Her lyrical tones and simple open circle compositions establish choreography of motion, while the carefully considered use of light and shade, positive and negative space and contrasting surface texture convey a sense of drama and tension.

“The initial inspiration derives from objects that are associated with use, whether mechanical, decorative or ritualistic. By translating/restating the implied function from these objects into the work, the pieces created evoke spatial rhythm and movement for me, while still retaining some resonance from the original forms.” (1)

Amsel’s Natural Selection is a response to her environment and its atmospheric conditions. Many of her titles evoke wind (Scirocco and Maestro) and ocean (West Wind Drift) currents or weather conditions (Frost). “These titles, like her work, are down to earth and express entire landscapes and atmospherics with a single word….The titles act as keys to her thinking and set us on the right course for understanding what she wants to express.” (2)

The authoritative use of Amsel’s surface texture adds another dimension to her work. Cold-working techniques such as polishing, sandblasting and resist masking reinforce the established narrative, rhythm and movement of a piece. The dimpled surface, spiral shape and amber green hue of Emerge, recall the growth of a seedling. Like a vast churning wave West Wind Drift shifts in colour from deep ink blue, to steel grey blue to clear. Its almost circular form, and polished surface, evoking the icy ocean current that circumnavigates the Antarctic. Scirocco’s surface tension is built through the contrasting polished sides and granulated edge, it is a sharp burnt orange arch filled with the dry heat of a Mediterranean wind.

Amsel’s “work is both concise and very expressive”, her captivatingly simple fluid forms and colour achieve an extraordinary sense of both stillness and motion. (3) “Her work, like the work of skilled photographers, freezes a gesture or operational split second, making one aware of the structural detail of things in motion.” (4)

1. Artist statement, 2005.
2. Dan Klein, Frozen Moments in Time: The Work of Galia Amsel, 2004.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.