Dallol
Nadav Parazenchevski (FineArc)
Semi-constrained Lichtenberg figures on scavenged and upcycled wood, textile pigment dyed, mica-inlaid resin, fractal-edged and finished in high gloss automotive varnish. In the Danakil Depression in East Ethiopia, the hottest settled place on earth, lies the Dallol volcano. In it’s furnace, it cooks underground chemicals into salty acid pools which eventually evaporate, leaving fractalised residues to create the one place on earth in which not even the extremiest of extremophiles can survive. In spite of these harshest of conditions, merciless beauty thrives, eons before it was appreciated by the local Afar tribesmen with their sharp, filed and pointed, shark-like teeth - beautiful and terrifying - like Dallol itself. My visit there in 2017 echoes within me yet. Not just Dallol itself, but the whole unique country, so full of contrast and contradictions. It brims with natural wonders, offers museum-like preservation of the ancient kingdom’s architecture, represents a plethora of cultures and codes, all compressed into an African juxtaposed riddle of hard and soft. It shares it's scarce resources like a philanthropist and guards it’s secrets like a rich miser, and is as user-friendly as a punch in the face. For the Farangie (foreigner), it is all familiar and all foreign, just like Dallol, where my heart is at home. As I experiment with and develop any new medium, I don't always have the knowledge in the moment to fabricate the ideas arising within me into reality. Without getting into technical details, every project since 2017 was subliminally influenced by the obsession of “how will this hone my skills in order to make “Dallol” eventually?” The learning curve took almost a decade, and I deem it worth every second. There is no end to the journey, but this was an ending. Of sorts. Presented at “Ethiopian Roots” exhibition at We-Art gallery in October - December, 2025, Carmiel.
Nadav Parazenchevski (FineArc)
An autodidactic research artist developing a unique artistic medium based on the Lichtenberg Figures phenomena - fractal dielectric breaking of materials in high voltage current. In his work he turns electric resistance into a brush and creates a complex dialogue between the raw forces of nature and the human capacity to instill intention and meaning, a perception formed along a decade of experimentation and inspired by his experience in dog training and preschool education - to form a framework of boundaries allowing freedom within. The method's evolution focuses on the interactions between control and submission, wherein from year to year, he moves from enforcing his will on the material into listening to it, thus tempting them into forging images, textures and shapes involving scientific, natural and narrative contents, from the resolution of the sub atomic to the cognitive, using scavenged materials, while evolving the technique to a rich, high contrast and vibrant visual language Http://FineArt.Art
An autodidactic research artist developing a unique artistic medium based on the Lichtenberg Figures phenomena - fractal dielectric breaking of materials in high voltage current. In his work he turns electric resistance into a brush and creates a complex dialogue between the raw forces of nature and the human capacity to instill intention and meaning, a perception formed along a decade of experimentation and inspired by his experience in dog training and preschool education - to form a framework of boundaries allowing freedom within. The method's evolution focuses on the interactions between control and submission, wherein from year to year, he moves from enforcing his will on the material into listening to it, thus tempting them into forging images, textures and shapes involving scientific, natural and narrative contents, from the resolution of the sub atomic to the cognitive, using scavenged materials, while evolving the technique to a rich, high contrast and vibrant visual language Http://FineArt.Art
