Yigal Ozeri TerritoryNovember 29, 2012 - January 5, 2013
Opening Reception tonight from 6-8pm.
Yigal Ozeri / Installation view / 2012 / New York, NY
Mike Weiss Gallery is pleased to present Territory, a new series of Photorealist oil paintings by Israeli artist Yigal Ozeri.
Featuring his largest portraits to date, the series depicts a young,
female Israeli soldier, whether in full military regalia or in
contemporary dress, set against a rugged ocean landscape. Ozeri imbues each work with emotional insight into the young woman's psyche resulting in a duality likewise reflected in Ozeri's
own life--the emotional boundary where the artist reconciles his
sentimentality for the homeland he left behind with the country he now
calls home.
 Yigal Ozeri / Untitled; Territory / 2012 / Oil on paper / 60 x 90 inches
Throughout Territory, Ozeri combines
his meticulously rendered details with spontaneous and loose
brushstrokes. Wispy flyaway hairs, minute droplets of water, glimmering
reflections of light, and crisp folds of wrinkled clothing stand out
against a somewhat hazy background. Drawn in by the delicate features of
the paintings, viewers begin to discover that the portraits demand
further contemplation beyond their immediate visual impact. The young
woman--whether shown standing on jagged rocks in military uniform or
reclining in the sparkling Mediterranean waters in an ethereal
dress--gradually and elegantly reveals layers of underlying palpable
emotion. Ozeri's
brush thoughtfully captures intimate moments that reveal the young
woman's personality through nuanced facial expressions, gently
controlled gestures, and a profound gaze.
 Yigal Ozeri / Untitled: Territory / 2012 / Oil on canvas / 80 x 120 inches
A dialogue is created between the
woman and the Israeli landscape that surrounds her. The solid,
implacable rocks appear to mirror the strength and confidence she
projects, and the luminescent glimmers of the ocean water reflect her
spirit and tenacity. Consequently, the woman becomes the embodiment of
the various struggles, tensions and binaries that abound in Territory,
generating discussions on personal strength, physical passions,
national propriety, and human vulnerability. The title of the show
refers to these intersecting boundaries, be they figurative or literal.
They are also mirrored in the way Ozeri's
romanticized nostalgia for his homeland is carefully counterbalanced by
a meticulously observant, yet removed, viewpoint of the current
political dynamic of Israel.
 Yigal Ozeri / Untitled; Territory / 2012 / Oil on canvas / 80 x 120 inches
Yigal Ozeri was
born in Israel and has lived and worked in New York for the past twenty
years. He has been exhibiting with Mike Weiss Gallery since 2003 and
has shown extensively around the world, with recent solo shows in
Montreal, Munich, San Francisco, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The artist
currently has works in the traveling exhibitions Photorealism at the Kunstahalle Tübingen and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, and in Photorealism Revisited at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Butler Institute of American Art. His work is included in the book Photorealism and the Digital Age,
and in a number of prominent permanent collections including the
Whitney Museum of American Art; the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio,
Texas; The Jewish Museum in New York; The New York Public Library; The
Israel Museum in Jerusalem; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; the Haifa Museum
of Art; and the Albertina in Venice, Italy.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment