Once again, Nicolae Fleissig surprises his audience by adding a new dimension to the installation he began last year. Reham El-Adawi reports from Aswan Watching Nicolae Fleissig carve his piece of granite with a drill, dressed in cut-off jeans and covered from head to toe in white dust, was a spellbinding experience. He had attracted around him a number of Asian tourists who took pictures of him and asked him to sign autographs. As a world-renowned French sculptor who has taken part in about 50 international symposia, Fleissig first took part in the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium (AISS) only last year. He already knew about this annual granite gathering from sculptor friends who had participated in the symposium's past rounds. These included Leonard Rachita, François Weill and Patrice Belin. Fleissig is a master, moulding solid stone such as marble and granite to his will; however, he has no time for wood or bronze. Of all materials, he prefers granite. "Wood is a living material that cannot face hard weather conditions, and bronze is a metal that needs too much care and needs polishing from time to time, while granite survives thousands of years and can bear all tough conditions." For him, the entire process is very enjoyable. By choosing a piece of stone and transforming it into a piece of art he is offering it a new life to live. The theme of the work is about furnishing a space with a bed and a chair, creating a secret relationship between them; "It is in the bed where you sleep or lie down, while you sit on the chair, and when the person stands up and leaves the bed and then sits on the chair he does a double action. The bed is the oldest thing man knew, ages ago, since he needed a place where he could sleep, relax, make love and give birth. Also the chair is very important for sitting and relaxing. The distance between the bed and the chair is indicated in the moment when I can create a certain intimacy and a secret dialogue between both objects," he said, elaborating on his theme. Inspired by the art of Greece and Rome, he carved the bed and the chair in matching rose granite since they are both placed in the same area. He carved tiny cubes in the two blocks and coloured them with red iron oxide mixed with gum Arabic. The bed measures 2.4x1.8x1 metres while the chair is 1.3x0.8x0.6 metres. For the second consecutive year, Fleissig is taking part in the 15th round of the AISS (2009-2010), which is due to conclude its activities on 20 February. Asked why he decided to continue the artwork he started last year, he replies that it is only logical because last year the theme of his work was to furnish a space with a bed and a chair, and this year he has created the door to close the bedroom and thus the audience can pass through the door to enter a new space. Last year Fleissig paved the way for the finished work when he created a unique location for it in the Open-Air Museum, which he described then as an "unprecedented" museum. In contrast to the rest of the participating sculptors who have carved granite statues, Fleissig has distinguished himself by creating an installation. For this year, the door has also been embellished with coloured cubes; Fleissig has finely polished one side of the door so it resembles a mirror which is placed in the direction of the room. The door moves round on itself, a difficult technique that he has managed to accomplish brilliantly through centring the door on two axes. The door measures 2.5x4x0.6 metres; he created it from the same rose granite, while the mirror installed inside is of black granite. The granite installation is composed of several parts including the base, two pillars, the door and two sofas or benches placed outside the bedroom so that visitors can sit down before entering the room or after leaving it. According to Fleissig, the installation creates an intimate link between the bed, the chair, the mirror in the door, and between all that and the audience. His desire was to mark his own unique space in the Open-Air Museum through painting parts of the stones located in the area surrounding his installation in sacré bleu. "It is more interesting for the sculptor to create a space, not just to carve a statue and leave it," he pointed out. The museum is located over a hill on the way to the Shallal Road. It overlooks the old lake between the Aswan reservoir and the High Dam in the southeast of Aswan. Once one enters the place, one is awed by the number of contemporary abstract granite sculptures that stand everywhere, creating a ravishing view with the mesmerising landscape of Aswan in the background. In the light of his experience, the AISS is distinguished among other symposia because it does not restrict the sculptor to a specific theme, allowing the artist to work freely. Fleissig hates the idea of competitions and prizes because "in art there is nothing called the first and the last, it's not like racing in sports." He believes that real competition should not be with others, but between the artist and himself. "It is an issue of trust, because if the symposium committee doesn't limit the sculptor to a certain idea this means it really trusts him, which automatically helps build his self-confidence."
