Once Upon A Time…

Participating artists: Adi Nachshon, Reuven Israel, Eddo Stern, Maya Schindler Braverman Gallery is pleased to present a group sculpture exhibition by select gallery artists. The exhibition takes work inspired by fantastical childhood tales and offers alternative versions to these original narratives. Works in the show refer to the manner in which the innocent beliefs of children’s imagination are easily warped. The representation of this skewed reality offers neither an ideal nor an alternative, instead illustrating alternate perceptions of reality. Sculptures in Once upon a time are at once mischievously childish and critically observant. Eddo Stern translates the world of video games into a spacial, physical experience, composed of fantastical creatures sourced in mythology and role-playing computer games. Mixed media forms are softly lit to cast imposing shadows on the gallery walls. In Tsunami, a three-headed hydra threatens a gun-toting human figure, hinting of less chimeric, more everyday battles. Stern tests the relationships between make-believe and reality, examining the tension between the two through violent situations. Reuven Israel approaches fantasy as the tension in unrealized potential; in his work, the object’s possible, imagined function is at severe odds with its conduct in the gallery space. Constructed of industrial-paint coated MDF, and named for the infamous pirate emblem, Jolly Roger takes the form of an innocent piece of minimalist furniture. Yet, like an freshly unwrapped, oversized birthday present, the sculpture’s proportions and placement, highlight the viewer’s own physical presence, hinting at less innocent elements at play in the piece. In DfYT (Decoration for Your Temple) Israel reveals the sculpture’s material makeup to better reflect on the value of disposability in an object-based culture. Maya Schindler employs Dorothy’s association-rich line from “The Wizard of Oz”, famed for its homesick sentiments. The quote There is no place like home, resolutely declared on the upper gallery level, is laden with a multitude of subjective connotations. For the viewer, picking the phrase out of the dense mass of the sculpture’s letters takes the form of a game. Adi Nachshon populates the lower gallery with three anthropomorphic figures wrapped in tokens of violence, exposing the viewer to an unexpected realm of taboo. Taking its cue from heavy-metal comics, Dinozex3 is cast in painted fiberglass, a material generally reserved for automobile manufacture. The tension between then piece’s media and appearance reflects the figures’ metaphorical status. Eddo Stern, graduate of the Art Department, now lectures as Head of Video Studies Department at the University of California. He has exhibited in various prestigious institutions, including Postmaster Gallery in New York. Stern lives and works in LA. Maya Schindler has a Masters from Yale University and an undergraduate from the Bezalel Academy. She lives and works in LA. Adi Nachshon is a graduate of the Avni Institute. He lives and works in Tel Aviv. Reuven Israel has an MFA and a BFA through the Bezalel Academy, and has been honored with the Morasha Award for young artists. Israel is currently being hosted in Milan by Montrasio gallery.