ONE EYE ON INFINITY

For One eye on infinity, an installation created exclusively for JMM’s Village-Palisades Gallery in Pacific Palisades, Yaron brings together five sculptural works in white oak, ash, alabaster, and marble, conceived collectively as a meditation on nature, consciousness, and our place within something larger than ourselves.

“We are a landscape of all we have seen,” Japanese sculptor Isamu Noguchi observed, transforming matter and space into elegant, eloquent, and elegiac meditations on existence itself. Recognizing the sanctity of the relationship between art and its environs, Noguchi distilled the essence of art as a spiritual experience all its own—a sensibility shared by Yaron in her newest work.

With the installation, Yaron creates an exquisite moment of stillness amid the distractions and demands of everyday life. “I wanted to create a sacred pause for the viewers walking by on the sidewalk and in the store,” she says. Here, Yaron shares insights into the materials, methods, and philosophy behind One eye on infinity, and the intuitive connection to the natural world that continues to shape her practice.

Jacques Marie Mage (JMM): What is the meaning of the title ‘One eye on infinity’?

Nadia Yaron (NY): I was listening to a podcast with Buddhist teacher Trudy Goodman who said that the honorable Thich Nhat Hanh looked like he had one eye on infinity and one eye on the present. 

This resonated with me. Part of mindful meditation is being a silent observer. You observe your thoughts and feelings but don’t grasp onto them. You let them float by like passing clouds. And so this sculpture represents just that: having one keen thoughtful eye on the present and one looking up at the infinite universe with an awareness of being part of something much larger.

One eye on infinity also is about respecting and appreciating our differences but remembering our unity. I’m including nature in this as well. We come from nature and are deeply connected to it.

JMM: How did you create One eye on infinity? 

NY: Together these five pieces create a sculptural meditation. I only use natural materials because I can feel the life source flowing through them. I feel connected to the earth through these materials and feel like I’m tapping into our history, something far bigger and omniscient.

I made a vertical six-foot-high sculpture of white oak, peach alabaster, and ash wood. The wood pieces are chainsawed and hand carved, and the alabaster is shaped and polished, but the front and back are left raw and untouched. The two wood forms on the top of the sculpture barely touch to create an asymmetric abstracted circle. I also made a translucent white alabaster floor sculpture. This is shaped to represent the waves of the ocean, which are a metaphor for the breath in meditation as well as a nod to the ups and downs of life.

Sitting behind these two larger sculptures are two small, wall-mounted clouds hand carved from translucent white alabaster and Tennessee rose marble. Clouds represent thoughts passing in our mind like they do in the sky, and represent impermanence, but they also represent interconnectedness and the cycle of infinite life, going from cloud to rain to water to cloud again. 

JMM: How does working in a 19th-century barn in Hudson, New York, inform your creative practice? 

NY: My studio is a barn next to our house. I spend most of my days here and I am surrounded by the beauty and power of nature. I work mostly outside, weather permitting, and sometimes not. I learned to surrender to nature and work with it. Now I am making offerings in gratitude for nature. My studio is my altar, my sculptures are my flowers, my bowl of fruit, my daily commitment to my work, and my actions are my deep bows. Nature has become my guru, my teacher.

I love the speed, force, and chaos of a chainsaw. You have to think fast and work fast, and out of that madness comes peace. It feels like hard labor for me, and when I’m done I’m exhausted and satisfied. The rest of my process is much slower and much more peaceful. I’m using hand tools, shaping my stone and wood, quietly and thoughtfully sanding sometimes the same piece for days.

JMM: How does the inherent tension between permanence and the transience of life guide you as an artist? 

NY: Impermanence is always on my mind. That nothing lasts and there is a time for everything. My sculptures have enveloped these dualities. They are rough and scarred, smooth and polished, slightly imbalanced but stable, heavy and solid, also delicate and fragile. This is life and this is also me. It helps me to understand myself, thereby empowering me with the freedom to let go. I empty myself and let the creative energy flow through me and out into my work.