A new book showcases a turning point in the work of contemporary sculptor Ahuva Zeloof, known for her stone carving and bronze figures. Zeloof’s book, FAITH, is available to order from bookstores across the UK and online.
FAITH charts an incredible visual journey that should be taken as an example, a guide to reconnecting with our deeper souls and retrieving a much-needed sense of peace and harmony with the exterior world.
It will introduce readers to the latest work of Ahuva Zeloof, a UK-based artist whose work is informed by a profound connection to her Middle Eastern heritage. Zeloof works across multiple mediums including stone, bronze and glass, and her style is characterised by a fluid exploration of textures, light, and human anatomy.
Zeloof spent most of her adult life raising her four children, only beginning to sculpt once they flew the nest – her success over the last 15 years is testament that it is never too late. She’s exhibited internationally alongside luminaries such as Tracey Emin and David Hockey and has had three solo shows in London.
FAITH represents the volta – or turning point – of Zeloof’s artistic journey. The artist pulls back on physical manipulation, instead focusing on the spiritual expressions that onlookers can ‘read’ from the shapes. Or, in Zeloof’s own words: “Created by nature and found by the artist.”
The book is divided into two main parts: the making of FAITH, and the final works that make up FAITH. The sculptures in FAITH were found in Nubian sandstone, then cast in bronze. The artist spent close to a decade collecting them lovingly from the Mediterranean coast. It is Zeloof’s first foray into post-readymade, showing a maturing of her style and confidence in the materiality of stone.
Zeloof has always looked for human touches in the world around us, a habit picked up during childhood when she used to see faces in rocky mountain ranges, the way many of us spot them in clouds. This anthropomorphising of the natural world comes to full fruition in FAITH, where entire sculptural forms take on the presence and outline of people.
FAITH 21, craggy and peaked, suggests a prophet standing atop a hill, FAITH 24 has all the kinetic energy of a group of pilgrims or devotees crowded together to worship, while FAITH 2 – which appears on the book cover – is imbued with the gravity of a veiled figure, head bowed in prayer. Although Zeloof is keen not to impress her meaning on the sculptures – especially as they are intended as secular expressions of FAITH – nonetheless it is clear that her artist’s eye has discovered something unique in the essence of the stones.
This thoughtful approach to the world around us is FAITH’s ultimate message, we ought to stop and look, find hope and stillness, and wait for sense to emerge out of abstraction.
FAITH was photographed by award-winning fine art photographer Georgia Metaxas, whose resulting imagery is rich with texture and brings the viewer viscerally into Zeloof’s artistic universe and design language. It also features an introductory essay by Frederico Poletti, an independent curator and author of eight books spanning fashion and history of art, and was edited by Shelly Verthime, longtime curator of the French artist and photographer Guy Bourdin’s estate.
For more information on Ahuva Zeloof, please visit her website: https://www.ahuvazeloof.com/
