Bushra Abassi, Lobna Awidat, Nirvana Dabbah, Mai Daas, Enatnesh Yallow, Ronit Goldschmidt | La Nuvola, Rome

The exhibition presents works by six female artists, who blur the lines between tradition and innovation. They contribute to the ongoing dialogue about the evolving relationship between individual and collective representation, delving into the complexities of nature. This exhibition serves as a reflection on the nuanced interplay of these themes, sparking discussions on the ever-changing dynamics within the realm of personal and shared experiences.

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Bushra Abassi | Bezalel Gallery of Contemporary Art

In a series of sculptural objects, Bushra Abassi takes inspiration from Orientalist paintings and removes the human subjects from the scene. Instead, she focuses on isolated architectural details and creates three-dimensional representations of them. Through this process, Abassi attempts to redirect the viewer's attention away from the Orientalist lens and towards the local architecture. By removing the human subjects and focusing on the architectural detail, Abassi reverses the power dynamics and asymmetry present in the original paintings. She also creates a contemporary archaeology of painting by reimagining the past and offering an alternative visual record of local audience.

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Exhibition review in the press

Mai Daas, Dor Guez, Tigist Yoseph Ron, Samah Shihadi | Cosmo, Rome

The exhibition Ecmnesia explores the past through personal and collective memory, with the artists using their artwork to grapple with their identities within the context of their social realities. Samah Shihadi's pencil drawings offer a hyper-realistic representation of memories from her childhood village, while Mai Daas's paintings deal with the tension between societal expectations of women and the strength of femininity. Tigist Yoseph Ron's "At Home" series combines old and new family photos to create a new plane of existence, and Dor Guez's video "Sabir" uses archival footage and photographs to examine the construction of memory and narrative over time. The exhibition as a whole deals with themes of rootedness, belonging, and the self in relation to the other. Works by Daas, Guez, Yoseph Ron and Shihadi offer alternatives to the competitive arena of recollection and contested truth, a history of the present moment.

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Exhibition review in the press: here, here, here and here

Muhammad Kaiss | Ramat Gan Museum

Kaiss is known for his site specific installations where he converts traditional Islamic interlacing geometric patterns of the arabesque into three-dimensional sculptures. What is customarily an element in architecture becomes the architectural structure itself. Furthering his inquiry into the transformation of shape, form, dimensionality and material, in Arabesque #5 Kaiss takes one step further in the alteration of this element: the arabesque's pattern is completely dismantled. Rather than preserving traditional aesthetics; shape, context and material are manipulated and the non-figurative nature of the pattern is brought to the extreme. The materialization of a sort of visual meditation of contours and lines of geometric shapes generates a linear installation which challenges perception of depth and space. The production process requires multiple levels of breakdown and decontextualization. Starting with examining a traditional arabesque, Kaiss creates a small-scale 3D wooden model, unfolds it and finally produces a large-scale reproduction of the result of the unfolding. It is the process of transformation of both dimensionality, space and connotation which bears the most weight for the artist, while the final result is so far removed from its origin that its meaning and motif may be lost on the audience. Thus the installation’s abstractness is a sort of challenge to the viewer, an allusion to the artists' inquiry into his identity and place in the local contemporary art field. The setting of the installation in the structure of the Ramat Gan Museum serves as a critical assessment on the establishment's modernist style. The installation's ornamental essence and draining of functionalism are in direct contrast with the architectural style emblematic of the European-influenced trends of the early 20th century.

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Michael Halak | Always of Dawn | Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery

In the work of Halak, the search for identity and belonging is a central theme. Halak examines the complex issues surrounding the status of minority groups in Israel, particularly Christian Palestinians, through the use of religious symbols and references to numerology. The artist's hyper-realistic style, combined with a conceptual approach and a hint of sarcasm, creates a sense of instability and disbelief in the political and religious status quo. The focus on fine details in the imagery serves to both draw the viewer in and caution them to be mindful and discerning. Overall, Halak's work highlights the dangers of blindly accepting consumer goods as expressions of spiritual values and the importance of questioning the status quo.

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Exhibition Review in the Press

Dotan Moreno | Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery

In "Even Though I Walk," Moreno explores the theme of liminal spaces and identity transition, particularly in relation to Arabness and Jewishness. Moreno uses etching as a medium to depict the entangled and mixed nature of these identities, using techniques of smoothing, scratching, and ink retention to reveal a nuanced tonal palette that reflects the complexities of the identities portrayed. The accompanying set of paper masks adds an additional layer to the theme of identity, representing the act of performing and conforming to particular roles in order to fit into a set socio-cultural classification. The masks also serve as a cover and escape from a state of ambivalence, encapsulating the idea of staging one's identity in order to find resolution and fulfillment.

Exhibition text in English

Exhibition review in the press

Joanna Jones | Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery

The title of the exhibition, “Leket Liqat” an Arabic and Hebrew transliteration of the term “gleaning” (gathering), an ancient precept still carried out today. Umm el-Fahm’s urban context, natural features, and human interaction with natural elements lie at the center of Jones’ site-specific installations. “Leket,” is composed of a variety of Umm el-Fahm’s locally sourced native plants. The plants, which Jones gathered during the past year in the neighborhoods and outskirts of the city, serve as the primary material of the wall installation. Beyond their mundane uses– culinary, medical healing, fertility treatments, and religious and social rituals –the organic elements are endowed with new significance through re-purposing and composition. The aesthetic layout functions as a sort of tribute to local natural healing elements, and an emblematic visual collection of links between the natural and supernatural spheres. The site-specific floor installation is produced by a combination of local soil and plastic retrieved from the surroundings. The integration of the plastic objects within the installation brings to the foreground the issue of pollution consequent to our extended use of plastic, and evokes considerations relating to the nexus of (wo)men and nature. Yet the plastic is not presented as a disruptive and foreign substance in the natural landscape, but as an element inherent to the local surroundings. The pressing environmental issue– here related to a local context but also relevant on a global scale– is thus elaborated into a relief, reminiscent of fossilized remains that attest to the human impact on natural elements.

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Exhibition Review in the Press

Rahmi Hamzi | Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery

A black container filled with water holds a number of sculptures shaped like the Arum Palaestinum, a plant also known as Solomon’s Lily and Priest’s Hood. The plant, native to eastern Mediterranean areas, can be found in desert, mountain, and woodland areas including Jerusalem's surroundings and the Upper Jordan Valley. Mentioned in religious texts and depicted in archeological sites in Ancient Egypt, this plant has the peculiarity of being toxic in its raw form, but edible and curative when treated. Hamzi reproduces the traditional Palestinian herbal medicine, still extremely popular in local cuisine and healing practices, to exemplify notions of femininity, sexuality and purity. While the submersion of the sculptures in the water evokes the decantation process necessary to prepare the plant, the way its toxicity is neutralized serves as a metaphor for notions of chastity. Hamzi’s wall illustration also features a botanical element, namely Cuscuta, known under many names including lady’s laces and devil’s hair. This rootless parasitic plant attacks its host plants and has medicinal properties. Superseding perceptions, expectations, and (mis)perceptions of femininity, the botanical elements in the illustration and the installation strike a balance between seemingly contradictory properties inherent in expressions and qualities of femininity. The female anatomy and psyche, as well as elements of chastity and sexuality are represented by aesthetically beautiful plants that are simultaneously healing, nutritive, contaminating, and poisonous.

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Exhibition Review in the Press

Noran Hamed | Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery

The digital illustrations portray a female figure undergoing a transformative ceremonial act, mutating from woman to wolf. The wolf and the woman, respectively, exemplify different aspects of femininity, puberty, motherhood and childbirth. Referencing ancient rituals of devotion to goddesses that were used to mark sexual maturity, well-known tales, and widespread beliefs, the series of illustrations challenges stereotypical gendered notions of physicality, while drawing links among human nature, religious practices, and myth. The illustrations present a sort of storyboard of a metamorphosis, in which a woman’s body changes but also interacts with the change– a wild and non-confirmative means of presenting the coming into existence of the hybrid. Noran calls attention to, and criticizes, societal expectations of the role, behavior and aesthetics of women. It is the tension between these expectations and the natural untamed and wild character that she identifies in women, that generates the ultimate synergy: a woman wolf. This is echoed in the technique used by Hamad: her lines are almost instinctive and impulsive, driven by what she defines as intuition rather than by concern for realistic representation.

Exhibition Review in the Press

Adi Boutrous | Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery

Adi Boutrous’ video performance is set in the Benedictine Monastery of Abu Ghosh, a structure built upon Roman ruins and the remains of a Crusader Church, which features twelfth century frescoes illustrating biblical scenes. The protagonists of the frescoes are faceless, their expressions damaged by the natural processes of time and by vandals, who sought to erase the representation of human figures. The performance is a response to the erasure of these images: their absence becomes a trigger that prompts visual representation and documentation. The aesthetic staging of the three protagonists’ bodies, aims not to disrupt the setting but rather to engage with it. Their movements, as well as their pauses, convey the impression that they are immersed in a non-verbal exchange with the space and at times blend into it. Yet the dialogue between their bodies and the structure also strives to transcend the boundaries of the location’s specificity. To achieve this duality, sounds which accompany the performance are a combination of religious tones, the results of the performer’s movements, and the muezzin’s call to prayer from the nearby mosque. The narrative, rooted in the religious frescos and their location, receives as much attention as does the movement. The body serves as a medium that bridges between the physical and spiritual, and moments of contact among the dancers provide tangible expressions of both ethereal intimacy and submission.

Cast: Jeremy Alberge, Uri Dicker, Adi Boutros | Photography and editing: Dor Even Chen | Sound design and editing: Dor Even Chen, Adi Boutrous | Costumes: Stav Struz Boutrous

The work was produced with the support of the Mifal HaPais Council for Culture and the Arts, and supported by the Yehoshua Rabinovich Tel Aviv Foundation for the Arts, Tel Aviv. Special thanks to the French Institute in Israel and to the Benedictine monastery in Abu Ghosh.

Exhibition review in the press

Lobna Awidat and Mosh Kashi | The Lobby Art Space

The exhibition "Heref (הרף) / Lahda (لحظة)" features four aluminum sculptures by Lobna Awidat that examine and reinterpret concepts and motifs of Druze faith and culture through a combination of modern mechanical appearance with traditional objects and symbols. Viewers are invited to reflect on the sculptures and interact with light, as the holes in the sculptures allow light to pass through. Mosh Kashi presents a series of four paintings that inquire into the possibility of materializing a fleeting moment by embracing abstraction to explore movement, and leaves interpretation to the audience. Both artists approach the quest of visual representation through different means, with Awidat using empty spaces and motion in her sculptures and Kashi using light and darkness in his paintings. Both tackling transitory moments through the use of antithesis.

Review about the show

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The exhibition "Removing Comments" features a group of artists that explore the theme of freedom of expression and mechanisms of exposing and hiding through different forms of visual techniques. The exhibition raises questions about the role of companies and states in monitoring, interpreting, and censoring individuals' modes of expression. Eden Yilma presents three illustrations of Muslim, Aboriginal, and Mursi women who are all wearing different clothing and have their facial features erased to transcend notions of social constructs of gender and ethnicity. Guy Aons' work "Composition for a Kimono" also manipulates the physicality and configuration of the human body to upset the conventional body image and explore freedom of expression. Lia Tzigler presents black and white pencil drawings of landscapes and architectural remains that are displayed on both sides of transparent plexiglass, creating a new relation and space between 2D and 3D. The drawings are perforated by screws, creating holes which enable visual connection and re-collection for compositional purposes. Eliya Cohen presents two works made out of a deconstructed umbrella, acrylic and spray on canvas as a metaphor for protection and unity, however, the umbrella parts are deformed and displaced, alluding to human skin, and representing a sort of skeletal form. Gil Shmerlin presents a series of light sculptures that are not just illuminating objects, but also perform a mediating function that connects the artist to the viewer and the display space. Each sculpture contains different light, which affect the sculpture, the viewer, and the space differently, inviting the spectator to go beyond clichéd interpretations.

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Exhibition review

April Yuan and Netta Rabinovitch | P8 Gallery in Tel Aviv. The exhibition was supported by the China Cultural Center.

The exhibition "As a Mayfly" brings together traditional Chinese art forms and contemporary global issues, reinterpreting calligraphy, poetry, and drawing through a modern lens. The works of Israeli artist Netta Rabinovitch and Chinese calligrapher April Yuan highlight the destruction of nature by human actions, such as animal extinction, deforestation, plastic pollution, and oil spills. The traditional "three perfections" of calligraphy, poetry, and painting are blended together to raise awareness of these issues and promote an aesthetic appreciation of nature. The poems serve as commentary on the visual scenes of environmental disasters, reminding viewers of the possibility of balance between humanity and nature. The exhibition also includes two enlarged depictions of red seal carvings by Yuan, which represent the interrelation of complementary forces and the duality of human existence in the universe.

⤋ Calligraphy Translation

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Hamody Gannam and David Havrony | HaHanut Theatre and Gallery, Tel Aviv.

This real estate agency, “Ghawar Real Estate” is a site specific installation created by Hamody Gannam and David Havrony for HaHanut Gallery, which is located in south Tel Aviv. Two windows looking onto the street, balancing between fiction and authenticity. On the left window is an advertisement for a luxury apartment with open sea view for sale in the Old Jaffa Port, price: 12 million shekels. This apartment is genuinely available on the market. The right window is filled with numerous advertisements for homes in Tel Aviv and Jaffa marked as “sold.” In this context the term ‘sold’ arouses questions on the reasons that led to the sale, for instance whether it was undertaken by necessity,  imposition or choice. The exhibit treads between historical and contemporary themes: part of the images used in these fabricated advertisements are archival sources collected by Gannam, while others are real estate photographs taken by Havrony and originally produced to catch the attention of authentic contemporary homebuyers. The vast majority of the text incorporated in the installation is in Arabic, a choice emphasizing local identity discourse and pointing to the phenomena of Jewish gentrification of Jaffa homes enabled by the Israeli real estate boom. This theme is associated to a larger context too, the exhibition takes its name from Al-Ghawar, the world’s largest oil field located in eastern Saudi Arabia. By choosing this name, the artists wish to underline the complex and global link between political agreements, economic calculations and land value. 

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Shahar Afek, Doaa Badran, Mai Daas, Assaf Hinden, Suma Kaedan, and Guy Nissenhaus | Oded Shatil Gallery, Tel Aviv

The group exhibit “Walls have Ears” refers to the tension between what is said and what is not said in a private environment, when suspecting that outsiders are listening. This is an opportunity for the spectator to enter what is at once both a home and a gallery. The works showcased deal with the tension existing between the private and public, through processes such as image and form manipulation.

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Exhibition review in the press

Shahar Afek, Doaa Badran, Mai Daas, Assaf Hinden, Suma Kaedan, and Guy Nissenhaus | Hotel Petit Palace de Santa Bárbara, Madrid

The group exhibition 'Hybrid' deals with non-traditional representation of art. The venue, a hotel room, is used to host works by visual artists who explore the concept of hybridity. Guy Nissenhaus presents a group of wooden DIY dogs that play with the idea of animate and lifeless, and critiques contemporary compulsion with easy and portable solutions and ownership. Shahar Afek's glass sculptures contain smells infused into the glass, inspired by memories, highlighting the perception of tangible and intangible and attempting to transmit memories. Assaf Hinden's photographs draw upon archival objects; the final works presented are a hybrid, at once documentation of the past and new subjects. Doa Badran's metal mesh sculptures produced by repurposing cleaning sponges and placed on a bed, become whimsical objects, an in-between of intimidating and sterile. Suma Kaedan's wax reproductions of kohl bottles, usually made of brass or other metal, are empty representations, which raise questions on materiality and purpose.

The exhibit was accompanied by the performance Evening Menu by Shahar Afek.

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Doaa Badran, Rahmi Hamzi, Suma Kaedan and Yara Qassem Mahajena | Gallery of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design MFA and Al Markaz Contemporary Art Gallery, Jerusalem

“Vow” focuses on the representation of female goddesses in pre-monotheistic creeds from the Near East. The work of Doaa Badran, Rahmi Hamzi, and Suma Kaedan explores the themes of womanhood, domesticity, and religion, and how these intersect with ancient myths and rituals. Badran's work raises questions about the relationship between religion and blind faith, and the role of women in religious tradition and practice. Hamzi's work combines sexual and religious symbolism to reflect on the taboos of religion, such as the sexualization of gender. Kaedan's work explores the relationship between humans and the natural environment, and how this relationship is shaped by societal and cultural norms. The exhibition suggests continuity in the convergence of various attributes of womanhood and challenges traditional gender roles of power and creation through the use of botanical references, domestic objects, and natural imagery.

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Tigist Yoseph Ron and Mimi Tasama Sibaho | The Jaffa Museum

In the exhibition "In Her Place", the connection between national identity and motherhood is explored through personal and communal perspectives. The exhibition features works by artists Yoseph Ron and Sibaho, who draw inspiration from their personal familiar environment and the shared experiences of Ethiopian Jews. The exhibition includes black and white portraits, textiles, and site-specific installations that challenge traditional expectations and explore themes of loss, legacy, and identity. The use of black and white creates a balance between the past and present, and the construction of a feminine identity rooted in its origins.

As visitors enter the exhibition space, they are greeted by a sound intervention featuring a young female voice reading the poem "The Confessions of a Potter (Tatey)." This dramatic sequence shifts from narrative to monologue, imbued with rhetorical questions of time, creativity, and legacy. The voice is inevitably covered by the sounds of visitors, but rather than being an interference, it serves as a welcomed figurative meeting between the audience and the poet, between times and spaces. This serves as a blunt expression of approval for intergenerational continuity, as the poem is based on the artist Yoseph Ron's grandmother, written by her brother, and performed by her daughter. Yoseph Ron’s black and white portraits of female relatives confront the viewer. The direct look reinforces the audience's own awareness of physical presence while creating a sense of alienation and discomfort. At the same time, the expressions of these women invoke respect and admiration, providing a reflection of the way the artist experiences their look and drawing the viewer closer to her world. Sibaho’s work also challenges traditional expectations. Ethiopian textiles are known for their white and bright colorful patterns, but Sibaho produces black fabric with simple linear patterns. These fabrics serve as both anonymous and personal symbols, merging the national textile tradition with the artist’s personal experience of loss. Similarly, her reproduction of a traditional Ethiopian basket, the mesob, is enlarged, blackened, and displaced, emptied of its purpose. In addition, in a site-specific installation on the wall of the gallery, the artist encloses hair-extensions in a hexagonal wooden structure. Black hair is charged with symbolic meaning and at the center of beauty-standard contentions, here it is confined and prevented from fluttering naturally and spontaneously.

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Exhibition review in the press here and here

Dor Zlekha Levy | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

"On One Stalk" is a video installation that places the audience between two tank barrels. The first is located in front of a fountain at the entrance to the city of Nahariya and was captured by the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon War. The second is located in the sea near Sidon, Lebanon and was placed there by environmental activists to create an artificial reef. The artist sees the positioning of the cannons as a romantic gesture, with the soundtrack and photography emphasizing the idea of the machines being filled and emptied of air to create a charged and lively relationship.

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Mika Hazan Bloom and Noa Schwartz Lev Har | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

The exhibition "No Wonder" is a thought-provoking display that showcases the works of Hazan Bloom and Schwartz Lev Har. Both artists present a unique perspective on the concept of wonder in everyday occurrences, with Hazan Bloom capturing leisure activities of asylum seekers through photography and sculpture and Schwartz Lev Har extracting wonder from mundane objects by manipulating and recreating everyday objects to comment on the urban environment. The exhibition highlights the significance of seemingly insignificant moments and encourages the viewer to consider their own perceptions of wonder in their surroundings.

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Mahmood Kaiss | Hanita Ilan | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

Curatated by Tali Kayam

"Photo-transfer" deals with the concept of disaster and destruction and its aftermath through the works of Hanita Ilan and Mahmood Kaiss, where the themes of apocalypse, history and humanity are explored. Hanita Ilan's work involves monochromatic sheets with shades of pink, orange and brown, pierced by silver objects, while Mahmood Kaiss's sculptures are made from parts of disassembled cars. The two artists approach the theme of apocalypse in different ways, with Ilan treating her work as "digested scrolls" and Kaiss transforming the car components into refined sculptures. The exhibition creates a visual discourse, encouraging the viewer to consider the relationship between historical destruction and mundane ephemerality.

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Guy Levy and Nardeen Srouji | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

Reflecting upon the perceptions of the Middle Eastern setting and the symbols most representative of it by both those who are a part of it and onlookers, Levy and Srouji touch upon issues of identity, here emphasized via the use color and displacement and re-placement of elements (from and within) their environments. Power relations and embodiments of social and political issues are affronted by the artists in two distinct manners. Srouji focuses on the process of creation and questions of material representation of inescapably fluid social and political issues which she faces daily. Departing from the familiar object, but displacing it, she challenges its status-quo thereby inviting the viewer to reconfigure their own perception of the world. Levy’s work is rooted in his attempt to extricate the enduring negative connotation often attributed to the Levant. In his compositions, there is an ambivalence that stems from the mutual definition of the characters as ​Others​ and from the changing hierarchies of control and influence that form between them.Thereby dramatic contrast of Caucasian and oriental figures and mundane symbols–and technique reminiscent of expressionism – becomes a means to reflects upon his own sense of social and political exclusion as a Sephardi Jew in Israel.

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Bustan al-Hub | Yuval Atzili | Michael Liani

The term “bustan” derives from the Persian word for ‘a place of smells,’ and commonly refers to an agricultural garden or orchard located near a water source. For this reason the term has gained popularity throughout the Middle East, where rainfall is scarce. The context of this exhibit –the Tel Aviv Pride Week– is a popular event where numerous tourists come to the Orient to embrace and celebrate diversity (gender/religion/culture etc.) enabling them to encounter the Exotic Other. This bustan offers a glimpse into part of Israeli visual culture and emphasizes its complex relation to fantasy, temptation and pleasure.

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Ilit Azoulay, Alex Mirutziu, and Wilfredo Prieto | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

Curated by Nicola Trezzi.
Presented at the CCA together with three additional spaces in Tel Aviv— Born From Rock’s studio, IDRIS, and The Lobby Art Space. Hebrew is a fascinating language based on roots; from one root you can “build” multiple words, sometimes different if not in contradiction with each other. This is the case of the root kuf (ק), dalet (ד), mem (מ), from which you can build kedem [ancient], kodem [before], and kadima [forward]. Following this concept, many works will be created, or recreated, especially for the exhibition, and some of them will eventually disappear or be destroyed. Going against territoriality and instead embracing collegiality and inclusivity. Following these premises “KEDEM–KODEM–KADIMA” goes beyond its own premises—the Rachel & Israel Pollak Gallery—scattered in different areas of the city. The Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv will function as a “black sun” with several satellites (spaces), emphasizing elliptical trajectories (elliptical time versus linear time) and its related concept of “eccentricity.”

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Meital Katz Minerbo and Niv Cohen | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

A "subject" as a multiplicity is a testament of its state of endless transformation. A subject with broken boundaries whose form is hard to define. There is an animalistic force that bursts out of him like a pack of wolves, where there is no place for individuality. In that way Meital Katz-Minerbo and Niv Cohen create a space where multidisciplinary pieces use aesthetics to question definitions of identity and form. The artworks act together as a group, marking the territory where the viewer can evoke and experience the motives that connect the practices of the artists. Katz-Minerbo's paintings, collages and fashion items are part of her research on the hybrid character of The Cactus Man: an androgenic creature covered with thorns. Through this character the artist intends to give visual representation to definitions of otherness. Cohen creates masks and sculptures influenced by African and tribal esthetics. This assemblage pieces combine contemporary urban elements and daily-life objects and waste. The masks function as images that freeze human expression and at the same time they expose the means of processing, reflecting and healing highly intense emotions such as anger and anxiety. The sculpture’s role is similar to that of totems, upon which Cohen directs the power of redemption and hope.  The works in the exhibition are grouped together creating an atmosphere that resonates Cohen's pagan world and Katz-Minerbo’s hybrid bodies. In both cases, the pieces function as attributes transferring magical powers to those who wear, hold and observe them. Through the exhibition the artists extend a call to claim territories for new identities and forms to inhabit. The exhibit also includes a painting by the Venezuelan naïve artist Elsa Morales (1946-2007), a santera (a priestess which combines African and Christian rituals). This talismanic painting is believed to be charged with arcane powers.

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Exhibition review in the press

Samah Shihadi  and Michael Halak | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

Movement and transition, are examined from different perspectives and interpreted in diverse manners. Samah Shihadi, is concerned with physical movement involved in dance, and though it expresses her views and feelings as she attempts to liberate herself from a traditional and patriarchal society. Dance is often perceived as an act which frees the soul and body from all restrictions. However, she discovered that this escape is a false extension that creates an illusory world, a trap, which only exists so long as she is involved in the artistic process. In contrast, Michael Halak, has for years been discussing issues of transition, memory and relations between man and place. Halak, a Christian Palestinian living in Israel, views himself as a modern nomad constantly moving from place to place. His study of this migration captures him in a metaphorical sense, to a torn state of uncertainty and lack of belonging. What is supposed to be a momentary state turns into a permanent state of affairs in life, which leads one to wonder about social, political and personal aspects.

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Exhibition review in the press

Guy Aon | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

In “Still Early for Sunset,” Guy Aon presents two photo series which focus on the body. The two photo series are different from one another both in technical production and the way they are positioned, yet both deal with manipulations by the artist directed upon the photographed objects and the audience. In the first series Aon photographed naked bodies at sunset-time, the bodies are reflected by semi-translucent flexible mirrors. The result obtained by the use of a mirror system, set-up in the artists’ studio, produces new bodies within layered reflections of space; the body in Aon’s work changes the state of matter (i.e.the solid looks liquid etc.). Here we see liquid and angular bodies, bodies that have been re-engineered: three-nipples like silkworms, a shoulder and back with spider legs, a cubist woman in a puddle of metallic fluid and a mysterious male portrait. The manipulation creates layered perspectives in the photographs, which invite the viewer to travel via sharp shapes that convey body organs that sometimes are reminiscent of desert views and depths. The second series displays large and small cut-outs,  colorful photographs which transform into strange objects. These photographs are very sculptural: they are images that have been created via the documentation of unusual body positions in the artist's studio and combinations of humans and strange objects, so that strange sexual-monsters or rather machine-monsters are generated. These cutouts create erotic hybrids and an intriguing triangular gender entity. The two series deal with re-processing of scenes by photographic means and the creation of elusive beings and objects that do not exist in the outside world, and can only be produced by using a photographic camera.

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Exhibition review in the press

Daya Belzer and Ktura Manor | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

Filled with objects representing human intervention, the exhibition calls into question the original purpose of nature and human action through its thematic choices and its use of visible and invisible elements. The gallery space itself is a blend of what can be seen from the outside and what is located within, inviting viewers to consider the relationship between the natural and the artificial.

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Avraham Kritzman, Tal Yerushalmi, and Guy Nissenhaus | Idris Gallery, Tel Aviv

The artist trio presenting Dynamism is concerned with constant change and liveliness. The exhibition probes the manner in which movement develops from materials and how movement can bear renewed vivacity to the materials via reinvention, isolation and Incorporation. Tal Yerushalmi proposes a series of colorful canvas cut-outs, representing archaeological objects. Her technical production includes the layering of colors and transforming of the original significance of the ritual and historical objects she presents. She isolates these objects from their prescribed purpose, but juxtaposes and reconnects them in order to give them novel vitality . The work “Get a Life” consists of two acrylic and oil paintings on stretched canvas, painting cutouts and acrylic paint applied directly onto the wall of the gallery. Abraham Kritzman’s works “Klintes 1“ and “Klintes 2,“ are characterized by a strange saturation of murky, diluted colors which create an impression of transparency. The sculptures resemble archaeological remnants or strange fossils. They carry the signs of sculpting gestures, a memory of creation. Unlike a pilgrimage–a linear movement aimed at a specific destination– this work summons space for rediscovery, where the artist invites the observer to linger, and produce a multi-focal gaze that cannot be distilled into linearity or pertain to a rational narrative. Guy Nissenhaus’s work articulates the tension between the urban environment and natural landscape. Combining humor, playfulness and gestures, with natural images such as plants and animals, his work urges the observer to contemplate the human experience and contemporary urban life.

Full exhibition text: English