As a practitioner of Tai Chi, Hertzel describes the flow of movement originating “deep within the core through the mantle of the earth spiraling up through your soul and soles” into the body, much like bronze itself. Metal is a material that can be transformed from state to state, from solid to liquid and back to solid. In Reversal a figure stands (almost) in contrapposto but the energy of the piece is tracked rather than depicted by the bronze. The torsion and the tension make the figure seem ready to spring but the openness of the composition makes it unclear in which direction it will move. Reversal speaks to that feeling between fight and flight, paralysis and panic, where one doesn’t know which way to turn much less what is really going on around us. The figure of Reversal, like many of us in this shifting America with its stirring up of hatred, feels powerless as he digs deep into his soul for strength and direction.
https://www.jonathanhertzel.com/images/reversal-2