The Nature Of Things
Emi Sfard & Nir Mazliah
17.9.20-04.12.20
The Nature of Things
The duo exhibition Nature of things is the second collaboration between artists Nir Mazliah and Emi Sfard. The two investigate together the connection between wild nature and human nature in visual manners while creating a hybridization and mirroring between these two forces. Mazliah and Sfard work within a dialogue, react, and suggest points of view and a unique artistic method of treatment within shared subjects of work.
An aggressive and suffocating invasive plant spreads from the works into the gallery space, appearing from within the layers in images depicting trails of the wild, toxic, and contaminated nature. The plant "decorates" different parts of the works and the gallery while covering what occurs beneath it and creating a layered and embroiled inner diffusion, which is a start of a new reality emerging from a plague. The beauty of nature causes the observer to forget the wrongdoings hidden beneath it: the moral, social, and political deterioration, fears, and desires.
In her works, Sfard combines materialistic painting and virtual painting. Alongside screened animations, works assembled from a hybrid fusion between painting and drawing in traditional techniques and digital animations are displayed.
Mazliah creates a world using pencils, ink, graphite, and watercolors. His works are constructed of large-scale paper cutouts plastered on transparent PVC sheets. Positioning them at a distance from the wall creates a reflection and an illusion in the spirit of "Shadow puppetry." The images in Mazliah's works are borrowed from art history's familiar citations, press and cinema photos. Expropriating the images from their original context and creating the new connections enable Mazliah to produce a disturbing view of the existential and universal reality at this point in time.
Action Space:
Nature of things is the fourth exhibition of the annual theme of 2020, which is dedicated to exhibitions relating to the concept Action Space.
The year 2020 at Alfred Gallery will focus on examining the concept exhibition space and expanding its initial definition. At the dawn of the third decade of the 21st century, we seek to challenge the traditional conception of exhibitions and exhibition spaces, and to re-examine their role in the artistic field. Upon reaching 15 years of activity, the Alfred cooperative members seek to open a practical discussion around these issues and try to redefine our mission as a collaborative gallery and as an art and cultural institute. This year the gallery will focus on exhibiting projects and exhibitions that focus on collaborations that reflect on transitions between mediums and disciplines.