"… The text of the opera has compelled me to preserve some of the anatomy of the human body from my figurines. the colours of the individual parts of these sheets are to be regarded as material equivalent, as in my proun work. That is, in the execution, the red, yellow or black parts of the figurine are to be executed in corresponding material, such as bare copper, dull iron … I leave the further processing and application of the ideas and forms that have been subordinated here to the others and myself go to my next task."
____ El Lissitzky
The materials used include polycarbonate, aluminium, steel and medium density fibreboard and the completed works are finished primarily in automotive acrylic lacquer. The sizes of the sculptures range from 600mm to 1500mm high.
Phillip is an Australian whose interest in El Lissitzky was ignited by a comment made by a lecturer in art history and analysis. The person said he would like a three dimensional representation of El Lissitzky’s New Man (Neuer). This was considered to be a challenge and given the nature of El Lissitzky’s drawings, that is they are three dimensionally illogical, the challenge was considerable. Almost as much time was spent analysing the drawings and considering how to represent them in 3D as in actually constructing them. Only simple tools and traditional fabrication techniques were employed and recycled material was used as often as possible.