ARTISTS
ORI GERSHT
Raise your hand if you know which artist said 鈥淚'm thinking about scenarios where, in one place, there is a very bloody war, while in another place people are living a comfortable, decadent lifestyle.鈥�
Diane Calder/michael Shaw / ArtScene
01 Jul, 2011
Through September 4, 2011 at the , Santa Barbara
Through July 9, 2011 at , Culver City
Raise your hand if you know which artist said 鈥淚'm thinking about scenarios where, in one place, there is a very bloody war, while in another place people are living a comfortable, decadent lifestyle.鈥� Israeli born, London based photographer and film artist Ori Gersht reflects on that quote and arrives at a very different response to his examination of similar issues. He purposefully imposes chaos on serenity. Utilizing complex technology, he creates work that investigates the power of human intervention on natural beauty.
Through July 9, 2011 at , Culver City
Raise your hand if you know which artist said 鈥淚'm thinking about scenarios where, in one place, there is a very bloody war, while in another place people are living a comfortable, decadent lifestyle.鈥� Israeli born, London based photographer and film artist Ori Gersht reflects on that quote and arrives at a very different response to his examination of similar issues. He purposefully imposes chaos on serenity. Utilizing complex technology, he creates work that investigates the power of human intervention on natural beauty.
In 2009, when Gersht鈥檚 film 鈥淧omegranate鈥� was on display at Washington
D.C.鈥檚 Hirshhorn Museum, in response to Joseph Caputo鈥檚 query regarding
violence and the compulsion to watch it, Gersht voiced the words quoted
above and included the following clarification. 鈥淢y work is not so much a
direct commentary as it is an open-ended observation of the absurdities
around us. Violence can be very grotesque and also intensely
attractive. What interests me is how the two 鈥� beauty and violence 鈥�
live side by side, and how moments can be created and erased almost
simultaneously.鈥�
Opening with half a dozen stunning, enlarged, stop motion photographs of an exploding floral arrangement, Gersht鈥檚 first solo West Coast museum show directly addresses his point of view. Drawing their title from Michelangelo Antonioni鈥檚 visionary 1966 film, Gersht鈥檚 鈥淏low Up鈥� series pictures shattered, airborne red, white and blue flowers mimicking the spectacle of Fourth of July fireworks ripping through the night sky. Although Henri Fantin-Latour鈥檚 鈥淭he Rosy Wealth of June鈥� (1886), from the National Gallery, London, is a reference for this work, J. M. W. Turner鈥檚 interpretations of nature鈥檚 wrath must be taken into consideration when examining the London schooled Gersht鈥檚 interest in the sublime.
The first of three digital HD films, 鈥淏ig Bang II鈥� unveils the gradual transformation of Gersht鈥檚 floral arrangement into an abstract explosion of color and form, prolonging suspense via the use of slow motion familiar to fans of action movies. Pulling off Gersht鈥檚 blast requires the orchestration of exceptional camerawork, skilled pyrotechnics and the cryogenic preservation of flowers, allowing them to shatter like shop windows on Kristallnacht. Viewers who happen to catch the four-minute loop at its start will hear Israeli air raid and Holocaust memorial sirens as tension builds in anticipation of Gersht鈥檚 acceleration of the tempo of deterioration implicit in Dutch and French historical still life paintings.
By substituting a pomegranate for the quince in his film and stop motion photo reconstructions of a still life painting by Juan S谩nchez Cot谩n, Gersht not only gets a blood red target for the bullet he aims at the fruit, but gains access to a multitude of religious and cultural symbols. Pomegranates signify the persistence of life and regeneration in the myth of Persephone. For many biblical scholars, they are the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden, an interesting factor when comparing 鈥淧omegranates鈥� with Harold E. Edgerton鈥檚 鈥淏ullet through Apple鈥� (1964). The pomegranate, bursting open, was considered to be a symbol of the fullness of Jesus' suffering and resurrection in Cot谩n鈥檚 era. Although the Spaniard joined a Carthusian monastery shortly after 鈥淨uince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber鈥� (ca. 1602) was created, this work and other examples of naturalism played its part in the Renaissance intellectual and scientific turn towards secularism that split open old faith based traditions.
"Falling Bird" (2008) and more recent photographic works featured in Gersht鈥檚 exhibition, 鈥淟ost in Time,鈥� fuse the past with what the artist has called the 鈥渦ltimate present.鈥� His brilliantly plumed dead fowl drops out of the sky like a nose-diving airplane. That threat of death and disaster plays out in the six gorgeous C type prints in the series, 鈥淐hasing Good Fortune鈥� (2010). Gersht鈥檚 photographs of cherry trees, sakura, simultaneously suggest the sense of renewal celebrated at spring viewing parties throughout Japan and the ephemeral nature of life. The cherry trees blossom in clouds, a metaphor for group orientated Japanese culture. During World War II, Japanese cherry blossoms came to be used as a motivating symbol to encourage both militarism and nationalism among the general population. Cherry blossoms, esteemed for their short yet brilliant life, would often be painted on airplanes flown by kamikaze pilots on suicide missions. Gersht captured the images in this exhibition a year ago at historic sites, including Hiroshima and the grounds of Tokyo鈥檚 Imperial Palace. But in the ultimate present, after Japan鈥檚 earthquake, while evoking Gersht鈥檚 ongoing engagement with beauty, they also remind us that destruction can be compelling to watch.
In a concurrent gallery exhibition, 鈥淔alling Petals鈥� ritualizes Gersht鈥檚 encounter with Japan during cherry blossom season. Many of the works exude an especially dark, ethereal presence thanks to their being captured at night, in some cases appearing as if a soft spotlight was shone out amidst the trees (it鈥檚 actually just the camera鈥檚 sensor working overtime). 鈥淚mperial Memories: Floating Petals, Black Water,鈥� one of the strongest works, as well as a bit of an outlier in the show, is a cosmos of blossom residue floating enmeshed within the darkness of the river鈥檚 surface, an elegy and an abstraction simultaneously. The show also includes Gersht鈥檚 high production short film, 鈥淲ill You Dance For Me,鈥� which depicts Auschwitz survivor and dancer, Yehudit Arnon, mysteriously rocking in and out of the darkness while we hear her recounting her experience of being forced to stand outside all night in the snow, as punishment from SS officers whom she refused to dance for at a party. Elegantly scored, the film, while at times a bit too overwrought, is anchored by supreme cinematography, and makes any reservations about an overabundance of melodrama entirely forgivable.
Opening with half a dozen stunning, enlarged, stop motion photographs of an exploding floral arrangement, Gersht鈥檚 first solo West Coast museum show directly addresses his point of view. Drawing their title from Michelangelo Antonioni鈥檚 visionary 1966 film, Gersht鈥檚 鈥淏low Up鈥� series pictures shattered, airborne red, white and blue flowers mimicking the spectacle of Fourth of July fireworks ripping through the night sky. Although Henri Fantin-Latour鈥檚 鈥淭he Rosy Wealth of June鈥� (1886), from the National Gallery, London, is a reference for this work, J. M. W. Turner鈥檚 interpretations of nature鈥檚 wrath must be taken into consideration when examining the London schooled Gersht鈥檚 interest in the sublime.
The first of three digital HD films, 鈥淏ig Bang II鈥� unveils the gradual transformation of Gersht鈥檚 floral arrangement into an abstract explosion of color and form, prolonging suspense via the use of slow motion familiar to fans of action movies. Pulling off Gersht鈥檚 blast requires the orchestration of exceptional camerawork, skilled pyrotechnics and the cryogenic preservation of flowers, allowing them to shatter like shop windows on Kristallnacht. Viewers who happen to catch the four-minute loop at its start will hear Israeli air raid and Holocaust memorial sirens as tension builds in anticipation of Gersht鈥檚 acceleration of the tempo of deterioration implicit in Dutch and French historical still life paintings.
By substituting a pomegranate for the quince in his film and stop motion photo reconstructions of a still life painting by Juan S谩nchez Cot谩n, Gersht not only gets a blood red target for the bullet he aims at the fruit, but gains access to a multitude of religious and cultural symbols. Pomegranates signify the persistence of life and regeneration in the myth of Persephone. For many biblical scholars, they are the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden, an interesting factor when comparing 鈥淧omegranates鈥� with Harold E. Edgerton鈥檚 鈥淏ullet through Apple鈥� (1964). The pomegranate, bursting open, was considered to be a symbol of the fullness of Jesus' suffering and resurrection in Cot谩n鈥檚 era. Although the Spaniard joined a Carthusian monastery shortly after 鈥淨uince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber鈥� (ca. 1602) was created, this work and other examples of naturalism played its part in the Renaissance intellectual and scientific turn towards secularism that split open old faith based traditions.
"Falling Bird" (2008) and more recent photographic works featured in Gersht鈥檚 exhibition, 鈥淟ost in Time,鈥� fuse the past with what the artist has called the 鈥渦ltimate present.鈥� His brilliantly plumed dead fowl drops out of the sky like a nose-diving airplane. That threat of death and disaster plays out in the six gorgeous C type prints in the series, 鈥淐hasing Good Fortune鈥� (2010). Gersht鈥檚 photographs of cherry trees, sakura, simultaneously suggest the sense of renewal celebrated at spring viewing parties throughout Japan and the ephemeral nature of life. The cherry trees blossom in clouds, a metaphor for group orientated Japanese culture. During World War II, Japanese cherry blossoms came to be used as a motivating symbol to encourage both militarism and nationalism among the general population. Cherry blossoms, esteemed for their short yet brilliant life, would often be painted on airplanes flown by kamikaze pilots on suicide missions. Gersht captured the images in this exhibition a year ago at historic sites, including Hiroshima and the grounds of Tokyo鈥檚 Imperial Palace. But in the ultimate present, after Japan鈥檚 earthquake, while evoking Gersht鈥檚 ongoing engagement with beauty, they also remind us that destruction can be compelling to watch.
In a concurrent gallery exhibition, 鈥淔alling Petals鈥� ritualizes Gersht鈥檚 encounter with Japan during cherry blossom season. Many of the works exude an especially dark, ethereal presence thanks to their being captured at night, in some cases appearing as if a soft spotlight was shone out amidst the trees (it鈥檚 actually just the camera鈥檚 sensor working overtime). 鈥淚mperial Memories: Floating Petals, Black Water,鈥� one of the strongest works, as well as a bit of an outlier in the show, is a cosmos of blossom residue floating enmeshed within the darkness of the river鈥檚 surface, an elegy and an abstraction simultaneously. The show also includes Gersht鈥檚 high production short film, 鈥淲ill You Dance For Me,鈥� which depicts Auschwitz survivor and dancer, Yehudit Arnon, mysteriously rocking in and out of the darkness while we hear her recounting her experience of being forced to stand outside all night in the snow, as punishment from SS officers whom she refused to dance for at a party. Elegantly scored, the film, while at times a bit too overwrought, is anchored by supreme cinematography, and makes any reservations about an overabundance of melodrama entirely forgivable.
