Born in Israel 1977. Lives and works in Kfar-Saba and Tel-Aviv .
My photography is about taking things apart and putting them back together again. Various objects are inserted into surroundings with multiple meanings. At the same time images are dissected into individual components. In my work, I am motivated by my response to a reality in which objects are transformed from material in the world into flat images. A reality in which objects become images. I am concerned with examining the complex relationships through which the glance manipulates the image through photography.
The studio is a space for play and the photographic image is the end point of a sculptural, collage-like working process in which I use objects to construct new images. The objects, remains from daily life, are usually ready-made: various possessions, parts of packaging, cuttings from magazines or children’s toys. In my working-process I alter these objects through various means such as adding paint, breaking, pasting, cutting and more. These working processes are spontaneous and intuitive, creating tension between the planned and the arbitrary, the material’s independent qualities and my control thereof. In contrast to the relatively free manner in which I alter the materials, the process of taking photos is controlled and precise. I calculate the exact formula for each environment and object and their surroundings.
Once I have created the objects, I adopt one of two primary working methods. Firstly, I construct a surrounding environment, and through the newly created connection between the different components of the work, and the choice of background and perspective, a new cosmos is established. The photographic image renders the original objects obsolete, and they are discarded. It also generates a hermetic and static environment for the new image. In the work “Polish Landscape”, for example, I combined a round stick of charcoal, a piece of painted Styrofoam and a scenic postcard (a copy of a postcard that Janusz Korczak handed out to his students), in order to create a tense yet appealing environment. Another method involves using a single image as raw material. In this process, the image is isolated from its original context and new meanings are attributed to it through manipulation. For example, in the “helmets” series, I printed photographs of historic helmets and cut them out of their original surroundings. This resulted in a process of abstraction and alienation on one hand, while on the other hand blurring the distinctions between real and fake, illusion and concrete material. As in a collage, layering, covering, and putting together and taking apart, in order to create an image that oscillates between depth and flatness, are all part of the working process in the studio through which I create a photographic image.
Through my use of formalistic means – form, texture, material and color – which create tension between depth and flatness, real and imaginary, I aim to address the local terrain in Israel and elements of masculinity, violence and anxiety inherent therein. My use of images of possible destruction, and imaginary elements of self-defense and violence within them, enable me to cope with humor and poetry in the face of an increasing consciousness of destruction and potential trauma.
My photography is about taking things apart and putting them back together again. Various objects are inserted into surroundings with multiple meanings. At the same time images are dissected into individual components. In my work, I am motivated by my response to a reality in which objects are transformed from material in the world into flat images. A reality in which objects become images. I am concerned with examining the complex relationships through which the glance manipulates the image through photography.
The studio is a space for play and the photographic image is the end point of a sculptural, collage-like working process in which I use objects to construct new images. The objects, remains from daily life, are usually ready-made: various possessions, parts of packaging, cuttings from magazines or children’s toys. In my working-process I alter these objects through various means such as adding paint, breaking, pasting, cutting and more. These working processes are spontaneous and intuitive, creating tension between the planned and the arbitrary, the material’s independent qualities and my control thereof. In contrast to the relatively free manner in which I alter the materials, the process of taking photos is controlled and precise. I calculate the exact formula for each environment and object and their surroundings.
Once I have created the objects, I adopt one of two primary working methods. Firstly, I construct a surrounding environment, and through the newly created connection between the different components of the work, and the choice of background and perspective, a new cosmos is established. The photographic image renders the original objects obsolete, and they are discarded. It also generates a hermetic and static environment for the new image. In the work “Polish Landscape”, for example, I combined a round stick of charcoal, a piece of painted Styrofoam and a scenic postcard (a copy of a postcard that Janusz Korczak handed out to his students), in order to create a tense yet appealing environment. Another method involves using a single image as raw material. In this process, the image is isolated from its original context and new meanings are attributed to it through manipulation. For example, in the “helmets” series, I printed photographs of historic helmets and cut them out of their original surroundings. This resulted in a process of abstraction and alienation on one hand, while on the other hand blurring the distinctions between real and fake, illusion and concrete material. As in a collage, layering, covering, and putting together and taking apart, in order to create an image that oscillates between depth and flatness, are all part of the working process in the studio through which I create a photographic image.
Through my use of formalistic means – form, texture, material and color – which create tension between depth and flatness, real and imaginary, I aim to address the local terrain in Israel and elements of masculinity, violence and anxiety inherent therein. My use of images of possible destruction, and imaginary elements of self-defense and violence within them, enable me to cope with humor and poetry in the face of an increasing consciousness of destruction and potential trauma.
BIO
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