OMPHALOS SERIES – Jan Baracz

“OMPHALOS #1, #2, #3. ” 2010, 2017, 2018. 10.5″ X 8″ X 4″, 11′ X 9″ X 4.4″, 10.5 X 8.5″ X 4.2″

Navel carved into a stone. Quartzite rock.

Navel shape carved into quartzite rock. Omphalos, a magical,mythological object (navel effigies are present across many ancient cultures)which resonates peace and sanity, a natural artifact, a bodily mark, and a trace of a physically severed ancestral connection — a soft spot here made mysteriously hard. For Greeks it was the place where Zeus’ two eagles met marking the axis of the world. For Jews it was the focal point of the diaspora: Jerusalem. Many prominent cultures have claimed the navel symbol in their mythologies. It is the central indentation that marks the core of a gravity field, the potential locus of a grounding force that can counteract the centrifugal charges of civilizational madness.

"OMPHALOS #1," 2010, 10.5" X 8" X 4". Navel carved into a stone. Quartz rock.

"OMPHALOS #2," 2017, 10.5 "X 8" X 4". Navel carved into a stone. Quartz rock.

"OMPHALOS #3," 2018, 10.5"X 8.5"X 4.2". Navel carved into a stone. Quartz rock.