Lights Out

Curated by Adi Gura

**Hebrew version follows

Braverman Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of solo exhibition for artist Roy Efrat. The exhibition features four installation pieces that were constructed by Efrat during the past two years; in them, Efrat combines paintings, video works and sound compositions both inspired by the narrative of Antigone and corresponding with it.

In the main hall, the work Prologue / Epilogue features images placed as a storyboard; these describe the narrative of Antigone based on French playwright Jean Anouilh adaptation the play Antigone and his interpretation of her figure. The collage consists of different stills and video images that were found in libraries, archives and Internet search engines; then, processed and painted in acrylic and spray on old canvases used for bookbinding. The grid display, containing this selection of images, attempts to combine them into a coherent narrative. The moving image, projected on the painted canvas, seems to strengthen the possibility of observation in each frame and frame; but also, to define this given narrative – to interrupt our ability to simplify the imagery, to oppose to our obedience to the opening – end narrative we might wish to find in these two works.

Following, the work Back is a painting of a girl, seated in a bent position. On it a projection of a human figure seems to animate the still image,

bringing it to life. Here, Efrat chooses to engage in Anouilh’s take on Antigone and specifically in the opening act as it had been adapted. Here, Antigone is introduced to the audience while she is calling out her nurse, in search of understanding and comfort. Soon after, she is portrayed as a rebellious, hard headed that disobeyed the formal law and buries her brother, and by that – insuring her own death. Here it is not clear whether she is crying or laughing; like her conflicted character, the contrast between the painted figure and the projected one echo the divided figure contained in it.

At the other end of the room, the work Re-Repetitionshows a painted structure of a burned nest. A crisp sound of fire consuming wood begins to play, while apparent stiches of fire rise from the twigs. As dust and ash rise from the burnt construction, the projection alters the surface and seen borders of the painting, threatening to rise up on the actual wall. It is as if the genetic structure of the painting as a painting is demolished, only to return to its original state.

On the upper floor, the installation work D.N.A. Removal consists by a painting of a woman animated by a projection. A man begins to speak, we hear the woman answer. It is not clear who the female character is- Antigone, or rather an actress or a museum instructor – facing an invisible man; His role is not known, either – he might be an artist, a theater director or merely an observer.  The work’s title derives from biology,

expressing the wish to separate and isolate parts of different genes, to remove genetic material of the cell.  During the dialogue, around the female character, advertisements pop up offering the removal of genetic cargo; they contain the option to disengage from something, referring to the careful removal of emotion from the medium itself.

Efrat examines painting as an image – one that currently exists in a field of visual excessiveness. As part of his take on the medium itself, he deals and drives from mass media imagery; by that, his paintings are not necessarily an “original”. He does not display them passively, but rather preforms another gesture on them;  by turning off the light he turns off the painting-  similarly to a theater scene – while the light projected on it with the movement  gives the still image life. Efrat creates a situation in which the painting plays a specific role – preforming as the materialistic realization of the video – projected figures,  as a Mise en Scène to a main narrative. The painting retains its static nature, allowing the viewer to notice its lines, shapes and composition; yet the visual memory alters the viewing experience, making the viewer responsible for the narrative’s arrangement.

Roy Efrat (b. 1979) is an an artist, dancer and choreographer; graduated with honors from the Department of Multidisciplinary Art, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design(2013), past member of the Noa Dar Dance Company (2008), the Yossi Jungman Dance Company (2007) and

the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Program (2008). Winner of the Rabinovich Foundation prize for unique art projects (2014), the Calcalist’s promising artist award (2013, second place and the Talia Sidi Award for best young artist, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design.

In the Bakery, Schahar Freddy Kislev‘s work, Cactus, devours the downstairs floor; working with organic and inorganic materials, Kislev’s work playfully engages in the relationship between object, pedestal and space. The upper object first appears to be natural – materialistically and formally – while from a close investigation revealed as completely synthetic. As the viewer’s gaze strolls downwards, the wood pedestal becomes apparent.

Kislev’s materialistic choice engages in a Minimalistic discussion concerning the relationship between an artistic object, the space it is placed in and the stand on which it resides.