Amarie Bergman THE PERFECT LIE #4 digital image 2007
Amarie Bergman, a conceptual artist and designer, professes little interest in the game of golf, yet she has some profound insights about it. On our walks past a nearby course, she usually listens to me rave on about the game then goes off to work in her studio, producing a graphic design that expresses golf in its most minimal form. One of the things we’ve talked about is the placement of a shot so near to the hole that it creates a sense of anticipation. Perhaps the golfer has chipped to the green and the ball rolls to the cup and stops just short. The golfer nudges the ball in for a birdie, par or bogey -- each level creating a different level of anxiety, frustration, excitement and euphoria. “I can see a golfer pausing for a second or two reflecting on their playing prowess,” says Amarie. “He visualizes the ball disappearing and probably the acclaim from his fellow players. Indeed, the sheer perfection of the ball’s poise is revelling Zen." She quotes a passage by Gaston Bachelard from The Poetics of Space: “… images of full roundness help us to collect ourselves.” This describes, she says, a moment in metaphor when a white sphere, like a golf ball, is associated with a brilliant idea anointed with a pristine quality. Somehow the seeming inevitability about the ball’s placement and the hole is worthy of a moment of reflection. Why? “Because alongside the idea is the black, seemingly flat, pure void of unfilled potential. And, Amarie adds via Philippe Diolét, “By changing space, by leaving the space of one’s usual sensibilities, one enters into communication with a space that is psychically innovating.”
-- MichaelS