Maror²

Anat Betzer / Haimi Fenichel/ Tsuki Garbian/ Merav Kamel/ Ella Kandel/ Avner Levinson/ Noa Lieberman / Michal Na'aman

Curator: Yael Amit

06.04.2017 - 28.04.2017

On Thursday April 6, 2017, Alfred – A Cooperative Institute for Arts and Culture will open a group exhibition titled Maror2, which will feature the works of Anat Betzer, Ella Kandel, Haimi Fenichel, Tzuki Garbian, Avner Levinson, Merav Kamel, Michal Na'aman and Noa Liberman. The exhibition is curated by Yael Amit.

Exactly one decade ago, an exhibition called Maror (a bitter herb - horseradish or lettuce heart, eaten as part of the Passover seder) opened in the young and small Alfred Gallery in Florentin Street, Tel Aviv. In honor of the exhibition's 10th anniversary, its curator, Yael Amit, is looking to re-examine the idea of he exhibition and to rebuild it.

The exhibition deals with suffering as a trigger for creation, and with the belief that the suffering must be preserved in order to continue creating. Maror is an oral practice, a mental and emotional experience that passes through tormenting of the body. In the context of Passover, the experience receives an element of repetition, preservation and memory. The works in this exhibition reflect this approach in different ways, using varied artistic techniques.

Anat Betzer, who took part in the first Maror exhibition, will exhibit two works from the series "ARMY OF ME" which has never been shown in Israel. One of her works depicts a sensual, desirable and forbidden masculine body. In her second work there is a distant romance derived from forests and legends. Four nymphs dance - a warning is placed over the delicate image: army of me..

Ella Kandel will exhibit an installation composed of hundreds of welded utility knives. The installation contains a great deal of violence and repetition that is restrained on the one hand, and on the other takes over the space.

Haimi Fenichel will present a molded sculptural object made of sand that resembles a cardboard box with fragile kitchenware inside it. The object creates a sense of loneliness and meagerness. Its materiality produces an effect reminiscent of the sense of rejection of the act of eating similar to Méret Oppenheim's work "Breakfast in Fur".

Tzuki Garbian will present a large charcoal drawing with a fragment of Caravaggio's painting. The figures of the armored Roman soldiers emerge from the darkness and recreate a historical position. The armor protects the soldier and makes him anonymous. In addition, Garbian will present a selection of portraits in oil colors. The traditional technique of painting is interrupted and produces distorted figures that seem to have gone through a violent act.

Avner Levinson will exhibit sculptures of human figures whose shape is determined by the movement of the sculptural material. The physical gestures of the sculpted figures are perceived as impressionist in the eye of the viewer.

Merav Kamel will exhibit drawings from the series "Ma'lal" (misdeed). The works depict human figures in physical situations that express mental reality, such as sexuality, physicality, fluidity and penetration.

Michal Na'aman will exhibit the work "The Pelican in its Piety" depicting an image taken from the Christian tradition, in which the Pelican mother nourishes her young with her blood, as an allegory of Jesus' sacrifice.

Noa Liberman will exhibit one photograph, which is the only work exhibited at the first Maror exhibition. The photograph depicts a woman's face with two purple beads inserted into her nostrils. Lieberman deals extensively with the representation of the female body. In this work, the face becomes a penetrable organ. The beads seal the airways and produce a quiet death.