The smaller loops of rubber hose used in this work hold greater tension than the larger one, which deforms more when pressed into the confined surface of the panel. Influenced by my recent arthritis of the knee, I decided to title the work after the elastic connective tissue found in the body's joints.

Body and language are also connected. We use body language—often through expressions of emotion—to soften (and sometimes sharpen) the impact of our words. In contemporary written language, this function has been extended through the use of emojis. These micro-expressions are more flexible and elastic than the rigid framework of language itself. We rely on them not only to make communication smoother and more efficient, but also to make it more subjective, nuanced, and expressive.

In ideology, however, this softer dimension of language is often suppressed. Yet every law is quietly accompanied by an unwritten one that determines when it must be obeyed and when it may be disregarded. This hidden layer is always flexible, always open to interpretation—perhaps the cartilage of jurisprudence. When it wears away, bureaucracy expands, and the state develops arthritis.

Presentation video | Work in progress video

In these works, I use loops of rubber hose to create imprints in moist filler. The loops are pressed into the surface of the panel and held in place by a raised edge surrounding the format.

The loops are arranged into closed forms, each enclosing an area and separating it from its surroundings. A body, if you will. All organic life forms are bounded systems, however malleable they may be. They are flexible yet vulnerable, adapting to internal and external forces within the limits defined by their own material properties. 

The elasticity of the rubber introduces a tension into the forms. When I use rubber hose as a drawing tool, I see it as a metaphor for language. Language, too, is elastic. Words and images influence and distort one another depending on how they are arranged. A sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissection table mean something different together than they do in any other context.

The elasticity of language also creates tension—something that can be experienced as either beauty or discomfort. Yet we tend to assume that, after being stretched or bent, language returns to a natural or ideal state. Psychoanalytic theory might describe this belief as belonging to the Imaginary register.

We need language to be elastic because language is inseparable from life. Its resilience lies in the ability to maintain a coherent form while adjusting to the environment. Without this elasticity, both language and life would be far more vulnerable to the entropy of the world.

Res Ipsa is a compilation of works made by an act shaping the filler once it is prepared inside the frame. The works thus function as a recording device and give a statement of the event taking place while the filler was still wet.

Res Ipsa is Latin for "the thing itself" and is part of the juridical term "Res ipsa loquitur" (the thing speaks for itself), used when an injury or accident in itself clearly shows who is responsible, such as an instrument left inside a body after surgery.