katalog-overlapping voices - Ritesinstitute

at the age of 18 i moved from the former Soviet union to israel. With this relocation
the language, culture, and climate i encountered changed. i left my
birthplace in the hope and belief that i may find and create a new place of
my own and fulfill my unknown dreams. Years later, after a long stay in israel,
which undoubtedly became the new center of my life and that of my family,
i find the question of home and homelessness one of the main issues
of my personal and artistic preoccupation.
hoMe
i built my work “Home” out of wooden panels i took from used transportation
containers, like those which my parents, like many other immigrants,
sent along with them from the Soviet union to israel. in the early nineties one
could find such broken boxes in many neighborhoods all over the country.
With standard ball pens of a few colours i created an image that covers the
body of the house, like a tattoo. Working without any preparatory sketches, i
built the images in “real time”, in constant dialogue with the surface of the
wood, which is covered with scratches and inscriptions. The process of painting
with thin needle-like pens is slow and obsessive, and i saw in my mind
how it transforms rough panels into sensitive flesh, carrying my personal fantasies
and fears. While creating an excessively generous, provocative and attractive
surface, i leave the house hermetically closed, keeping it unreachable
and impenetrable to the viewer.
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