In Search of an Israeli Art

Slought Foundation is pleased to announce "In Search of an Israeli Art," an exhibition featuring photographs by Israeli artist Dani Shoshan, on display in the galleries from September 23, 2006-December 23, 2006. The public reception for the exhibition will take place on Saturday, September 23rd, 2006 from 6:30-8:30pm, with the artist present and introductory remarks by the curator at 7:15pm. This exhibition has been curated by Osvaldo Romberg, Senior Curator at Slought Foundation, and has been made possible in part through the generous support of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General of Israel In Philadelphia.

"Normally, contradictions can too easily neutralize each other. However, in the work of Shoshan, the contradiction between a volume without mass and a flat photograph reinforces in the viewer a sense of solitude. The formal reduction that takes place when the artist sacrifices the color of the photograph, and sacrifices the mass associated with volume, together with the fact that his materials are so poor (black and white photography and aluminum, which is the conventional material for window frames and shutters in Israel) make this work a very Israeli manifestation. At the same time the merit of this work is not only how it relates chronologically to the evolution of Israeli art, but also how it comments on photography and sculpture, and at the same time prompts in the viewer a strange mixture of religious and melancholic views that remind one of the early years of the State of Israel when everything was straightforward and tough." -- From the curatorial essay by Osvaldo Romberg

Dani Shoshan lives in Israel. He received his BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and his MFA from Columbia University. Shoshan is a member of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, and its curator of exhibitions. Shoshan was the curator of the Venice Prize / Israeli Pavilion at the Venice Biennale for Architecture (1991). Shoshan represented Israel as an artist at the 19th International Biennale in Sao Paulo, Brazil (1989), and has had solo exhibitions at Amy Steinitz Gallery in Tel Aviv. He recently exhibited his work at Le 15 Gallery of Contemporary Art in Nice, France (2006).

Pressetext

In Search of an Israeli Art
Featuring Dani Shoshan
Curated by Osvaldo Romberg