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Far from civilization and its comforts the alpine herdsman has formed his world over centuries. In his aloneness he has shaped his own culture, he has defied the elements tenaciously, has found his path cleverly and skillfully and has established long lasting myths.

Mountain Lake - A Moment

April 7^th 2004, Tree fungi, algae, polymers, h 25cm, l 5cm

Mountain streams and springs, dew and rain - water is our elixir.
Both animals and humans relish the delicious wetness and luckily it flows abundantly in the alpine world.
The mountain lake, mirror of the sky, is home not only to newts and fish, but also to primordial cells
that long ago emerged from the waters. Not quite as pretty as Venus, but as spirited and perky.

To peer into the mountain lakes enables us to reflect.
To be one with nature enables us to recognize, cherish and nourish its grandness.
Within nature and with nature.
We do not want a global outlook, but a look under the surface and increased self-awareness through the reflections.

The mountain lake offers this - to the alpine herdsman, the alpine dweller, to me and to all of us.

Ueli Dubs

QUEST FOR MEANING

LIKE A DISCARDED LEG
THIS ROOT LIES
HERE, BY THE WAY

WHY?

DID IT WANT TO ALTER ITSELF
DID IT WANT TO BECOME SOMETHING ELSE
NOT BE A ROOT ANY LONGER

WHAT THEN?

BE IN THE HAND OF A COLLECTOR
A COUPLE OF METERS YONDER
TAKEN ALONG

WHY?

THE TREE HAVING BECOME OLD
MAYBE FORGOT ITS ROOTS
OR THOUGHT THEM AWAY

WHAT NOW?

THE ROOT IS ON A QUEST
FOR NEW MEANING
AND BECOMES A COLLECTOR’S ITEM

Al Imfeld

Vat View

December 11^th 1995, Iron, horn, wood, hair, and foil, h 49cm, l 29cm

All edges hold. All spaces are imbued. Form and color determine energy.
The animal is omni-present. Once suckled, calves now peer funnily as cows. The look is impish.

The sidelight lets us presume how swiftly a new profile emerges.
Thus, ghostly spirits, grotesque masks and stories surface into the day.
The alpine dweller has recognized them all along and salutes the spirit within the object and the
premonition beyond the manifestation.

The alpine dweller’s surroundings are more than just three-dimensional. Legends and myths, fairy tales and
dreams - the endless repetition of sounds and gestures and the sweet breath of nature, open spaces that are
unreachable and unfathomable to those lowlanders far removed from the alpine dweller. Every day.

Gold stands for fairness, engrossment in reveries, magic and incorruptibility.
Since February of 1974, I have been to the hairdresser once - on the 4^th of June, 1986.
It is my own hand that scratchily shaves the customary crown of hair from my scalp.
A tuft of hair rolls about in the toilet paper, drying by the bathroom light.

And so there is a long line of hairballs, neatly dated. Ready for DNA and other tests,
for when no other revelations will be possible. My golden tufts of hair are to be found in countless objects of mine;
they are a symbol of my flowing into my objects, of my entering them, my encapsulating myself within them.
A tuft of hair goes a long way.
A pendulum above could do a lot.

Heart blood is meaningless in comparison.

Hair amulets.

Ueli Dubs

INTERIOR MOUNTAINS
ASTHMATICS HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THEM
MOUNTAINS CHOKE THEM

MOUNTAINS WEIGH
HEAVILY ON THEIR CHESTS
AND TAKE FROM THEM ALL WORDS

IS IT POSSIBLE TO
BLOW AWAY, MOVE AWAY
MOUNTAINS ON CHESTS?

MOUNTAINS BECOME OMNIPRESENT
ON THE CHEST AND BEFORE THE EYES
OF AN ASTHMATICIZED WORLD

Al Imfeld