Joseph
Beuys
Lavender
Filter
Here the principle of the filter is related to the warmth process in plant growth. The lavender oil filtered through the cotton cone is a highly developed kind of fat produced by the flowers of the plant, and it evaporates up and out into the atmosphere.
The passage through a filter brings a refinement, a metaphor for finer quality which could be applied to the spiritual context. The filter at the base of the sculpture retains part of the oil as it spreads outwards in time and then becomes resin. The process of infiltration takes place as the filtered stain spreads slowly outwards with time. This is the other side of the filter; a new refined essence, the spreading of ideas to the different force fields of human ability, a kind of inspiration that takes effect through a physical process of capillary absorption; psychological infiltration, or even the infiltration of institutions.
Between the two processes of filtration and infiltration is the element of time implied in the object: the distance crossed by the drops, compounded by the duration of the spreading process. There is the smell, too, as ninety percent of the oil evaporates, leaving just a residue of resin. That is another difference between this highly developed etheric oil and the heavy fats like butter, which do not evaporate, though the smell of course permeates everything.
The association with wounds is often present in the filter, in the process of dripping, or the connotations of gauze as porous protection and absorbent bandage.