The Ovaloids' Meeting 1998

Here we have ‘The Ovaloids' Meeting’ by Ernesto Neto, who was born in 1964. It looks like this was made with some kind of stretchy fabric, maybe nylon, and some kind of filling - I want to touch it. These swollen forms have a real presence, they're so organic! The way they slump and bulge makes them feel alive, like giant, friendly amoebas. Look at the texture, the way the fabric stretches and gathers around those openings. It’s the tension between the taut surface and the yielding volume beneath that really grabs me. The color, that soft, creamy white, adds to the feeling of vulnerability and intimacy. It’s the color of skin, of milk, of something pure and innocent. I’m reminded of Louise Bourgeois’s soft sculptures, but Neto’s work has a playful, almost goofy quality that’s all his own. In the end, this piece makes me think about how we shape and are shaped by the spaces we inhabit. It invites us to slow down, to breathe, and to connect with our own bodies in a new way.