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Simcha
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| opening |
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28.5.2010 |
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24.9.2010 |
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In her work "hatikva", artist Hedva Atlas Ben-David places a group of clay heads all starched up "singing" the national anthem. Mouths all wide open, with teeth protruding and the bold head crowns lean backwards.
The pathos of the ceremonial event is accentuated by the way the heads are held, which is metonymic of the missing stretched body. The conscious anachronistic use of soft clay, the exaggerated, African-like facial features, and the yellowish tone – which is also present in Ben-David's paintings – produces a grotesque, symbolic realism: hope, as a lost belief, a primitive ritual, barren and peeled out, which brings to mind a current TV advertisement which claims that "Israel is drying out".
For the spectators who are examining the work from outside the gallery glass window, it produces a complex experience: Ironic, yet companionate, empathic, and yet repulsive. The spectators discern themselves from this pathetic Trans, yet recognize its relevance to their lives and identify themselves within it.
Dr. Tal Frenkel Alroy
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Simcha
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