CURRENT. BACK TO BASIC
Atelier Shemi, Kibutz Cabri
Curator: Smadar Shindler
September - December 2019
Back to Basic - Yair Garbuz. Pencil / Zali Gurevic. Pshat / Roni Hajaj. Current /
What is back to basic? What is that basic thing that we are returning to? Three artists that deal with word, language, culture, with the identity associated with language, with the frequency of the objects, the return to
letters, to words, to notes, to matter, in the same return to the basic and simple which was a central theme in Yehiel Shemi’s work. The three artists in this exhibition, each in his own way, works with
dismantling and assembling, seeking the basic and the relationship between a
given space and creation.
Yair Garbuz exhibits an important body of work – minimalistic works in comparison to his collection of works. They concentrate on the language of line—paper, line, drawing. With the help of these papers, Garbuz tries to find
and to define the unchanging factor in art; the continuing element; that which isn’t born from discourse but from elements and structures that are as mortal as man. The drawings, as an inner investigation, offers us a more whole story of the artist’s creations. In determining whether a work on paper can or can’t be considered a drawing, what passes is a question of the line, a question connected to the way of transferring and translating thoughts. This is a means of capturing the movement of consciousness.
Zali Gurevitch’s poetry is found between acting and truth, as he says “the speech is sad even when it is rhythmic”. The collection ’ Pshat ‘ in its content and literary form is an example of the ability to be the deepest level, existing
also just for itself. Zali exhibits the philosophical search for the simple; the essence, the original, the rawest raw.
The core rationale in Roni Hajaj's work relies on the composition of essential raw materials, found in Kibbutz Kabri, treated as letters, as words, or notes readily awaiting next to a notebook and syntax. Hence, the raw materials themselves that have been added to a resonating system of notes, is the result of a direct response to emotional situations or to physical conditions that the space entails.
In loving memory of Carolina Ben Shemesh (1952-2019).
