Eliezer Sonnenschein
26 Oct - 10 Dec 2011
ELIEZER SONNENSCHEIN
Generator
26 October - 10 December, 2011
"An artist is foremost his own curator", Boris Groys
A generator is a tool that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. Its mode of action can be analogous to the craft of an artist, which is characterized by the way it converts manual and conceptual methods of creation into an arrangement of colors and forms that possess an impact that exceeds the boundaries of verbal expression. For Eliezer Sonnenschein, the generator is a metaphor for every part of the production process; from the time and place where the creative process begins (the studio, nature, or the city), through the historical and creative context, the influence of the artist's past experience, and through the final exhibition space where every detail is taken into consideration. Each piece is connected to one another, which creates a certain visual hierarchy. Generator is another link in the process of innovation and visual investigation that Sonnenschein has been conducting for the past several years. In the center of his inquiry stands the concept of power as a set of relationships that draw on the visual hierarchy within and between each of his different works.
With exceptional skill and talent, Sonnenschein succeeds to maintain an aesthetic, thematic, and unified language while at the same time uses an extensive and dynamic variety of techniques. The current exhibition gives the spectator access to the backbone of a process that took many years to complete and that is brought together for the first time in an exhibition space. The source of the presented process for this show began in the early 2000's when Sonnenschein first formulated his unique symbolic lexicon that characterizes his works. In an early series that Sonnenschein calls ‘Saints', juvenile characterized images of robots and weapons were present expressing both artistic sensitivity and harsh political criticism. Since then, Sonnenschein has created a series of works that further influenced his unique visual language. Among the most important series of the last decade were the collection of computerized images, ‘Port', which shows a series of apocalyptic scenes. The surprising composition and color scheme of these works denotes two dimensional computer games; a series of ‘landscapes' that contemplate a spread of surreal and fantastic natural spaces; a variety of sculptures with a nearly human yet nearly mechanical presence that with time reveal the primitive simplicity hidden in technology and human progress; and through a series of Facebook portraits presented around the world made of wooden boards divided into different sized colored segments which confront the division of political and artistic disciplines. Eliezer's sensitivity allows him to handle the semantics of the political and the way it is organized in light of the hierarchical changing relations without giving up his insightful personality and his placement as an artist in the art field.
Eliezer Sonnenschein was born in 1967 in Haifa, he currently lives and works in Rosh Pina. Sonnenschein graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem and exhibited many shows in Israel and abroad. Among them solo exhibitions at the Casino Museum in Luxembourg, Tel Aviv Museum, Nathalie Obadia Gallery in Paris, Krinzinger Gallery in Vienna, and at the Venice Biennial. He works with a vast variety of techniques and his visual language is dynamic and forceful. The present project is made up of new works and provides a rare opportunity to understand the generator that is in the heart of every artistic process.
Generator
26 October - 10 December, 2011
"An artist is foremost his own curator", Boris Groys
A generator is a tool that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. Its mode of action can be analogous to the craft of an artist, which is characterized by the way it converts manual and conceptual methods of creation into an arrangement of colors and forms that possess an impact that exceeds the boundaries of verbal expression. For Eliezer Sonnenschein, the generator is a metaphor for every part of the production process; from the time and place where the creative process begins (the studio, nature, or the city), through the historical and creative context, the influence of the artist's past experience, and through the final exhibition space where every detail is taken into consideration. Each piece is connected to one another, which creates a certain visual hierarchy. Generator is another link in the process of innovation and visual investigation that Sonnenschein has been conducting for the past several years. In the center of his inquiry stands the concept of power as a set of relationships that draw on the visual hierarchy within and between each of his different works.
With exceptional skill and talent, Sonnenschein succeeds to maintain an aesthetic, thematic, and unified language while at the same time uses an extensive and dynamic variety of techniques. The current exhibition gives the spectator access to the backbone of a process that took many years to complete and that is brought together for the first time in an exhibition space. The source of the presented process for this show began in the early 2000's when Sonnenschein first formulated his unique symbolic lexicon that characterizes his works. In an early series that Sonnenschein calls ‘Saints', juvenile characterized images of robots and weapons were present expressing both artistic sensitivity and harsh political criticism. Since then, Sonnenschein has created a series of works that further influenced his unique visual language. Among the most important series of the last decade were the collection of computerized images, ‘Port', which shows a series of apocalyptic scenes. The surprising composition and color scheme of these works denotes two dimensional computer games; a series of ‘landscapes' that contemplate a spread of surreal and fantastic natural spaces; a variety of sculptures with a nearly human yet nearly mechanical presence that with time reveal the primitive simplicity hidden in technology and human progress; and through a series of Facebook portraits presented around the world made of wooden boards divided into different sized colored segments which confront the division of political and artistic disciplines. Eliezer's sensitivity allows him to handle the semantics of the political and the way it is organized in light of the hierarchical changing relations without giving up his insightful personality and his placement as an artist in the art field.
Eliezer Sonnenschein was born in 1967 in Haifa, he currently lives and works in Rosh Pina. Sonnenschein graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem and exhibited many shows in Israel and abroad. Among them solo exhibitions at the Casino Museum in Luxembourg, Tel Aviv Museum, Nathalie Obadia Gallery in Paris, Krinzinger Gallery in Vienna, and at the Venice Biennial. He works with a vast variety of techniques and his visual language is dynamic and forceful. The present project is made up of new works and provides a rare opportunity to understand the generator that is in the heart of every artistic process.