Carrie Grewing

Ronit Baranga

The talented Israeli sculptor, Ronit Baranga, has captured the attention of the viewer with her hybrid works. The charming atmosphere that her creations carry is something hard to define. Hands, mouths, strings, and metal works are all reocurring themes found in her work that relate to an earthy personal note. Baranga's "hungry" vase illustrates the symbiotic relationship between the flowers and vase; the flowers feeding off of the water that the vase holds, therefore defining this object as a vase. The piece with hands stretching string through its fingers expresses the artist's feelings towards how her hands feel as they work through her clay. Baranga explains that she uses hands and mouths because they are very sensual organs in the human body that become very powerful when separated. Once added to plates or cups, the new objects can "feel" their own environment. These pieces are hybrids because they are combining different materials together such as clay, metal, string, etc. But also because its combing unique duos- something normal and passive becomes active after its transformation. Baranga's work is a bit of a curiosity for me. It is thoughtful and extremely well done, while playful and odd.
Ronit Baranga Home Page