A la Rampa | Tel Aviv

5 new paintings by Rotem Reshef, from the Imprints and Fossils series, are on view until the end of June at the hip 'A la Rampa' restaurant in the south of Tel Aviv  (Kiryat Hamelacha neighborhood).

A La Rampa

Reshef covers the wet surface of the canvas with these materials andextracts of nature, and let them “suffocate” the richness of the colors. Leaving them for several days or weeks for the pigments to absorb, and then removing the organic components, resulting in a ghost-like presence of eternal blossoms of vivid landscape, via the fixating character of the artwork.

Intervals | Tel Aviv

Artists House, Tel Aviv, Israel, opens 27 April 2018

The wall mural Intervals, which presents twenty faux windows revealing bold, abstract monochrome paintings, imparts a "new façade" to the southern wall of the Tel Aviv Artists House. Embodying tonal transitions from the scale of warm to cool colors, these works effectively highlight a hierarchy of atmospheres in the passage of the seasons through the shades, temperatures and emotional qualities affected by the shortening and lengthening cycles of hours and days over the course of a year.

Intervals

The intervals "erupt" through the outer wall that encloses the building while also embracing the rhythm of the pedestrians strolling along Elkharizi Street and reaching the art space entrance. The resulting effect is a momentary intermingling with the street on the visual-architectural plane, as well as lending a more contemporary, "renovated" feel to the building. Its Bauhaus style references Tel Aviv's "White City" that stretches to Arlozorov Street just to the north and which was recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site.

While actual windows allow a peek in either one or both directions, inward and outward, the ones portrayed in the installation do not function as a "window upon reality" or a conduit for conveying information regarding the goings-on within the building. Rather than granting exposure or the illusion of transparency, they appear opaque, thereby emphasizing the tension between the public space and the discrete art complex. Intervals functions as a multilayered summons, indicating the need to reveal the innermost. It invites people on the street to look further into the installation artwork, but also to gaze inward – into the Artists House, into the paintings, and into themselves.

Still Moving | Santa Barbara

Gray Space Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, March 16 - May 13

The group exhibition "Still Moving" will open tonight at the Gray Space Gallery in Santa Barbara, CA. It is part of  "70.70.70." , a three-galleries exhibition of works by 70 Contemporary Israeli Artists, celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the State of Israel for the duration of 70 days (curators - Sagi Refael and Lynn Holley).

Still Moving, installation view