The exhibition presents two large-scale paintings alongside a series of etchings in which human figures frequently appear as fragile and solitary. They are engraved with broken lines and surrounded by dense cross-hatching and stains created through the use of acid on metal printing plates. The etchings incorporate quotations from canonical texts and poetry that served as points of departure for the creation of the images, offering clarification while also alluding to the figures’ inner thoughts.
These textual choices—including quotations from André Gide—and the manner in which they are embedded in the works point to the artist’s dual position, akin to Gide’s own: oscillating between a humorous-ironic stance and a grave, melancholic one in relation to the act of art-making.
The two large paintings, Jeff Basia and Consolations from the Heavens, draw a line between a personal experience of loss following the death of the artist’s father and possible forms of consolation found through painting, as well as a destabilizing encounter with the artist Jeff Wall during his visit to Israel in 2013. This missed encounter became a symbol of the inevitable sense of loss inherent in being an artist. Between loss and consolation, solitude and love, the exhibition proposes a melancholic position.
Curator: Sharon Fadida
