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.

Full exhibition text: English

Exhibition review in the press