Works

Video
Acrylic pencil and paper on paper 82 x 57.5 inches 208.3 x 146.1 cm	Acrylic on paper 76 x 105 inches 193 x 266.7 cm	Colored pencil and pencil on paper 92 x 95 inches 233.7 x 241.3 cm
Colored pencil and pencil on paper 84 x 97 inches 213.4 x 246.4 cm	Acrylic and pencil on paper 94 x 96 inches 238.8 x 243.8 cm	Acrylic on paper 84 x 107 inches 213.4 x 271.8 cm
Acrylic on paper 92 x 94 inches 233.7 x 238.8 cm	Acrylic on paper 76 x 94.5 inches 193 x 240 cm	Acrylic on paper 94 x 76 inches 238.8 x 193 cm
Acrylic on paper 79.5 x 94 inches 201.9 x 238.8 cm		Acrylic and felt pen on canvas 86.61 x 70.87 x 1.38 inches 220 x 180 x 3.5 cm
Acrylic on canvas 78.74 x 138.19 x 2.76 inches 200 x 351 x 7 cm	Acrylic on canvas 78.74 x 137.8 x 2.76 inches 200 x 350 x 7 cm	2009 Acrylic on canvas 86.61 x 145.67 x 2.36 inches 220 x 370 x 6 cm

Press Release

Avner Ben-Gal

Smackville

11 November – 23 December, 2010

Opening November 11^th, 6-8pm

Bortolami is pleased to announce its second solo exhibition of Avner Ben-Gal. Smackville draws from abstract and visual representations of the effects of opiate drugs: withdrawal, craving and usage. The show seeks to describe the moment of the chemical reaction when the toxic substance intrudes the body and is infused into the bloodstream. The works convey a will for redemption, rather than a need to be rehabilitated.

The exhibition is divided into two new groups of works. One group is comprised of large drawings on paper, made mostly with black marker and slight touches of other colors. The drawn scenes depict human figures and animals being caught in an intensive, hysterical state. The lines are sharp, evoking needles, paralleling the conditions of the drawings surface, which is dry, and the state of being “dry” and suffering from withdrawal deliriums.

The second group of works, consisting of paintings, addresses the tension between indeterminacy and definitive bluntness. The paintings depict degrees of melting and diffusing bodies and spaces whose delimiting contours are gradually lost. These works represent different states of dissolution beyond the idea of a solid identity. Ben-Gal explores the manifestations that have lost their signifying capacity, consequently becoming an apocalyptic result of chemical reaction.

Avner Ben-Gal was born in Israel in 1966. He currently lives and works in Tel Aviv. His works have been exhibited internationally. In 2009, he held a solo exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. He has also had solo shows at The Museum Fur Gegenwartskunst in Basel and the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado. He has participated in numerous group shows including exhibitions at the 50th Venice Biennial, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin and at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

For more information please contact the gallery at info@bortolamigallery.com.