Born 1982, Israel
2008 / BFA, Fine Art Department,
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design,
Jerusalem
2003-2004 / Avni Institute of
Art and Design, Tel-Aviv

 
My work process in the studio is not premeditated, the logic is created in the
course of the work and only after the act does it provide the object with a certain
coherency. During the work accidents occur, many sculptures and objects are
born out of mistakes. Sometimes, a part or a piece designed for a specific
sculpture do not work out and become the beginning of a new sculpture. A
squirt of paint, a combination of materials that did not work out or was created
at random – all these may end up as a new technique in a different sculpture. A
step leads to the following step, a chain reaction of sorts; the work is a residue, a
testimony to the process revealed to the beholder.
During the work in the studio the soundtrack of the musical The Phantom
of the Opera is playing in the background. The saccharine addictive songs, full of
pathos and emotion, envelop the work and seep into it. The dark and mysterious
phantom who hid in the cellars of the temple of perfection, the Paris opera
house, is threatening to destroy it from the inside, backstage and beneath it. In
my mind he evolves into a damaged and enchanting object. The materials that
comprise the sculptures are objects that had completed their designated everyday
function and descended the stage, available, usable and cheap materials that
were originally decorative elements. Some try to resemble a different material, or
endeavor to appear like something they will never be, a frieze made of Styrofoam
or decorative moldings made of wood imitation plastic, for example. The work
recasts them anew, draws attention to them, once again they become the focus
of examination.
In the drama taking place backstage, the object trouvé fills a new role, a
material rather than a sign. The poetics of the sculpture is derived from the juxtaposition of the materials and the exposed work process. The image created
resonates familiarity, but it is not necessarily clear where does it belong to
and which world did it come from. The image exists in a new, magical and
autonomous world, probably under direct influence of the music and story.
The sculptures are a sort of fantasy, they are meant to point at a silent
world, whose rules are playfulness and nostalgia. They dream of being lobby
sculptures, office desk statuettes, souvenirs, or awards and victory trophies,
serving as the marks of culture. Like the snow globe which contains a miniature
model of a city and paper snow, the small sculptures have an unfulfilled desire to
be monumental objects. In that sense, each of them is an understatement with
delusions of grandeur.