Pace of Time

Ed. 145/150

This unique artwork by Yaacov Agam is a study for „Pace of Time“, which is included in the collection of Tel Aviv Museum of Art and is exhibited in its main entrance hall. The size of the original is 460 x 630 x 10 cm. This Polymorph is based on structural and visual concepts that are encapsulated in seemingly simple compositions. Agam defines his work as "transformational“- that is, as composed of forms that are transformed before the viewer ́s eye. The movement in them is illusory, and is the product of the viewer ́s movement as he advances from one side of the work to the other. Every step reveals new combinations of forms and colors, and the resulting impression is that the image itself is in motion. The arrangement of colorful froms is based on musical analogies, such as polyphony.

The relief Pace of Time is part of series of works titled „Metapolyphonic“, which Agam began creating in the 1950s. In these works, the congruence the artist created between matter and geometrical form causes the circles or squares in the composition to seemingly change their shape as the viewer moves by them. Agam ́s aim is to touch upon concepts of time and

eternity that lie beyond the world of visual appearances, and to arrive at what he defines as "non-descriptionof the body.“