Ilka Bree

Anat Shalev

27 Nov 2009 - 26 Feb 2010

© Anat Shalev
Male, 2009
gouache sur carton
69 x 63 cm
ANAT SHALEV
"Humble Rumble"

27/11/09 - 26/02/10

We are pleased to welcome Israeli artist Anat Shalev for her second solo exhibition, Humble Rumble at our gallery.

Having worked for several years with various materials, Anat Shalev is now returning towards painting with gouache colour, for which she uses pieces of cardboard boxes as her only support.
Her objective to paint in the most intuitive way possible leads her to abstract forms, which nevertheless soon reveal figurative images. During her work process, the motives become more and more constructed - she starts not just to exploit the chromatic but also the graphic possibilities. By blocking out questions of content, Anat Shalev concentrates on colour and form. The observer is invited to enter her world of blotches, patterns, ornaments and figures, which open up into other microcosms created out of numerous small details.

Having dealt with old cardboard packaging as a support for her gouaches for some time, Anat Shalev’s method of using this material has changed. She has discovered the possibilities of the actual shapes of the boxes themselves; they have inspired and determined the final subject of several art-pieces, such as “Female” or “Sunset”.

In the series "Mirrors", the artist lets monochrome coloured pattern grow over the entire surface of the support. The given homogeneity opens up and reveals a multiplication and profusion of ornaments. Spreading from the centre towards the exterior, the observer explores the meandering of the forms resembling cellular organisms. From its aesthetic and formal aspect, this series evokes Judaic and Islamic imagery.
 

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