The Garden Maryon Kantaroff

Maryon Kantaroff
The Garden, 1986
Bronze, 305 x 125 x125 centimetres

In The Garden, Kantaroff conveys her life-long thematic interest in the relationship between woman and man. "It has always been there for me," says the artist. "In the beginning I wasn't even really aware of it, but others could see that my shapes were changing, the harder lines were softening, becoming more fluid." In this piece, it is the interdependency of the two figures that is being placed at the foreground. Rather than marking a clear separation between the male and female halves of this meeting, Kantaroff draws the viewer's attention to their blurring similarity. Both figures balance their hard and soft elements, making it impossible to mark the defining characteristics of gender. The two halves encounter each other as equals, and in their coming together, they illustrate a simple but profound desire for free interaction and clear communication.