The title of this sculpture identifies its two spherical shapes as navels and the larger, upturned form as a bell. The navel was one of Arp's signature motifs, as he considered its associations with birth, growth, and procreation to be particularly resonant. In his work it can resemble an egg, a seed, a womb, and as paired here, breasts—or the orb of the earth itself. As Arp explained, "It's the first thing that exists, the beginning." He connected human life not only with the cycles of nature, but also with the act of artistic creation. The year he made this work Arp declared, "Art is a fruit that grows in man like a fruit on a plant or a child in its mother's womb."
Gallery label from The Erotic Object: Surrealist Sculpture from the Collection, June 24, 2009–January 4, 2010.
