In Yehudit Sasportas’ series of fans, cold, estranged European landscapes featuring snow-capped mountains are depicted in a traditional Japanese-style format characterized by boldly outlined expanses of smooth color. These large fans, which are made of fiberboard, are not functional, yet their association with the production of cool air amplifies the sense of coldness and distance that pervades the images. The key to understanding these fans, which evolved from the statistical pie graphs used by Sasportas in her earlier floor installations, is their abstract, geometric underpinnings. In this case, however, the artist is interested in the blend of such forms and of spiritual content that characterizes Japanese art, in contrast to the staunch secularism of Western modernism.

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