On Beauty and Spirit
Laurel Angrist
Norma Drimmer’s photographs appear to us on the brink of something mighty and powerful, a force that does not simply elicit strong reactions, but demands them. There is always a presence of something awesome and alluring, immediately recognizable and also strangely elusive. Her images evoke a strong visceral response, yet a viewer’s feelings about them can shift from moment to moment. In a single image, we teeter between attraction and repulsion, and it is from this beautifully open-ended quality that her work derives its power.
In Drimmer’s "In Visibility" series, matted locks of dyed and braided hair are meticulously arranged and displayed in mirror-image doubles. Bright orange and black tendrils intertwine to form abstract patterns that seem to take on a life of their own. The images as a whole suggest a kind of opaque ritual. Vaguely prehistoric and imbued with a certain fetishistic power, they also seem to crawl with a kind of insect life. In short, they seem to demand our devotion and make us shiver.
Drimmer’s body of work has a deeply spiritual foundation. Informed by her studies of Kabbalah, her photographs address the hidden elements–the mystical undercurrents that determine how we view the world and perceive everyday occurrences.
In "Fire," Drimmer takes a series of focused aerial shots of a bonfire. In biblical symbolism, fire affords purification through suffering and acts as a punishment against sin. It is also significant for its creative and destructive potential. Drimmer captures the mesmerizing beauty of the dancing flames as well as the terrible things they threaten.
Fear, in fact, is an important element in all of Drimmer’s work. "With Folded Hands" is a series of abstract close-ups that focuses on human hands moving about in a pool of water. Beneath the surface, they are vaguely discernable, causing ripples to form and change the course and quality of the light and the shadows. The colors also help to draw us in, ranging from dark and ethereal greens to recognizably human skin tones. In the deep, there is something dark and foreboding, but there is also the promise of peace when the hands catch the light.
"Medusa" focuses closely on an air bubble emerging just below the surface of the water. As an abstract shape, it has a full, round beauty, but it also seems suggestive of prehistoric life. Amoeba-like, it seems dimly cognizant.
Drimmer’s most abstract work, "Relationships of Beauty," presents a series of mystical landscapes in graded shades of black and white. We dare not inhabit these spheres, and yet are compelled to move through them. Symmetrical and suggestive, they appear to us as a Rorschach test, demanding our participation in the attempt to discern a meaning. Often we perceive something vaguely familiar, such as fossils or the structure of human bones. In each image of this series there is also a powerful presence–a godlike creature carved in stone, lording over the realms below. This almighty force has a terrible beauty; it seems to sit in judgment and determine our fate. Its presence is at once hideous and alluring, beckoning us onwards towards what may come.
Drimmer’s video work maintains this open-ended approach. In one recent piece, hands revolve in a circular motion, slowly at first and then faster and faster. Clearly, there is a ritual to this dance. We listen to a stream of murmuring voices, interrupted suddenly by a clap of white noise. Along with the thunder, an image appears momentarily: a close-up of the hands, motionless and bathed in light. This still frame is infused with powerful symbolism. Like the flames in Drimmer’s "Fire" series, the hands possess both a creative and destructive potentiality. Capable of great inventions, they can also serve to tear things apart. They offer comfort, build cities and commit wild acts of war and murder. As artists’ tools, both of these aspects are important enablers of deconstruction and reinvention.
Drimmer’s work as a whole has a delicate and arresting beauty. Balancing between abstraction and concrete imagery, she presents her subjects in fresh, new ways. The resulting images reveal a spiritual side to the everyday, free of any hidden agenda or dogmatism. In effect, the work pulls us in visually, while allowing us to draw our own conclusions. There is never a single way to view her images, and each viewing allows us to glean new insights into works that continually grow and evolve.
In September, Drimmer exhibited as part of a group exhibition in the Theater Gallery of Gibvatajim, Israel. "Relationships of Beauty" was shown in October in Dallas, and her latest series of works, "The Bow of Rain," will be presented in a one-woman exhibition this December at the Artura Gallery in Jaffa, Israel. She also has several upcoming shows in London and New Delhi.
