DOMINO DANCING
Artists Studio Gallery, Tel Aviv
Tzahi Buchbut, Roni Hajaj
Curator: Vered Gani
Oct - Nov 2014
Domino Dancing is an exhibition of replications: using replicated images in a black and white space, which features two variations of the exhibition. The articulation of the variations relies on the intuitive skill of its two partners, Roni Hajaj and Tzahi Buchbut, to coexist and work in this shared space next to each other. A prime concern is dedicated to images loaded with iconic potential, whether familiar or subdued, and the influence their presence has on our grasp of space, and our perception of layers of time. The delicate and clear expression of the black and white colors and references to Ancient Egypt, bring to mind the iconic potency of a traumatic visual expression to the Western culture in these days of ISIS, which is present in the space of Tzahi Buchbut’s work. Opposing these; fabrics, rods and metal plates, plastic wrap and stickers next to a painting are used to create an ephemeral surrounding that revolves more around work processes than the final products. This emphasizes the direct and immediate relationship between thought and processing of material, in Hajaj’s lab. The fear of death is confronted with pain and creative capabilty’s lust for life: the essential mix of West and East typical to the making of art, war, and anything conceivable in our region and any other place in which impossible amalgamations have been conducted by the traces the Western in the East. Residues of failures and disputes stem from the transition between a colonial regime period to a post-colonial period, and their devastating consequences.
