Yogi & Yogini

Scroll to view the Yogi project, the exhibition images, followed by process.

Yogi project

Yogini #1
2013
Plaster
22x15x6 inches

Each sculpture is realized from a torso-imprint of a Yoga teacher.

Yogi #11
2015
Plaster
22x15x6 inches

When I cast the teachers, I ask them to enter a relaxed savasana and to allow the essence of their practice, most importantly their breath, to penetrate the plaster.

Yogini #17
2015
Plaster
17x13x5 inches

I wanted to catch breath, to pierce time. The surprise was to find distinct patterns on the skin's surface of every torso.

Skin pattern #1

For example, observing the navel area of this Yogi: the direction of skin and hair growth movement is downwards, from the upper torso towards the navel, where all directions converge. Additionally, there’s a more energetic pattern coming into the center from the right than from the left.

Skin pattern #2

The skin pattern surrounding the navel in this Yogini is different from the previous one: a soft upwards sweep from the hip bones and pelvic ridge moves up the center line of the front torso.

Breathing Yogini
2015
Tinted plaster
8x12x5 inches

The torso skin patterns are like fingerprints.

Wearable Yogini Breastplate
2015
Plaster and Pune Belts
17x13x4 inches

Skin patterns can sweep from right to left, or visa versa; some bodies have scars visible only on the plaster body cast but not on the flesh. A few, but not all, reveal an upwards moving fountain pattern that connects navel to heart.

Yogini #40, detail
2016
Plaster
19x11x19 inches

No sculpture had a head. The French sculptor Auguste Rodin, who when asked why his sculpture didn't have a head answered, "No need for a head. The head is everywhere."

Yogini #40
2016
Plaster
19x11x10 inches
Yogini #3
2014
Tinted hydrocal
18x17x7 inches

Gallery view

Process images

Casting

I cast the frontal torsos of108 yoga teachers. I wanted to catch breath, to pierce time, by inviting breathe to leave a residue.

Atman Catching

How to Atman Catch (video)

Removing torso sculpture from pod

The casting process results in a pod. After the pod is completely dry, I fill it with several layers of plaster. The next day I lift the source sculpture from the pod by gently tapping around the edges of the pod.

Lifting torso sculpture out of pod

The next step is releasing the plaster source from the pod. It’s very much like printmaking, lifting paper off the plate to discover what you caught.

Revealing work

When the sculpture source is free from the pod, I begin to see the shapes and edges that I’ll exaggerate and enhance.

Refinement Begins
2018
Plaster