marble meets body: milena naef's stone cutouts reveal fragmented flesh

amsterdam-based artist milena naef captures the mesmerizing moment when body and marble merge into one sinuous shape. carefully cut-out apertures made in stone sheets offer spaces for human limbs to flawlessly fit in to. the two elements — flesh and stone — stand in strong contrast to each other, yet fluidly form a unified object. by connecting the body with the stone, arms and legs are abstracted and seem to become part of the material itself, blurring the line between subject and object.

image by alice trimouille (also main image)

the idea of the body’s presence and absence are a significant aspect of ‘fleeing parts’, and naef questions the dynamic between mental and physical space. ‘the marble itself plays an important role in my life, as I was lucky enough to grow up in my father’s sculpting school in switzerland,’ naef tells us. ‘working with the material, I touch upon the upbringing in which I would be the fourth generation of sculpting in stone. the work is a continuation of a project in which I ‘claim’ my own physical space within this context and question the traditional approach of stone carving.’

image by niek hendrix

image by lisa-marie vlietstra

image by lisa-marie vlietstra

image by lisa-marie vlietstra

image by bibi altink

image by lisa-marie vlietstra

image by bibi altink

image by niek hendrix

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