Fragile TerriTories
Fragile TerriTories
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Fragile TerriTories Copyright Š 2013 Fragile Territories all rights reserved Designed by Hadas shalem Cover: Noa Charuvi Pink Path, 2011 oil on canvas mounted on panel 14 x 11 in.
Fragile TerriTories is supported by a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary arts emergency grants Program
Fragile TerriTories July 15 – august 4, 2013 alexandra Ben-abba / Noa Charuvi / Naomi safran-Hon Curator rebecca Pristoop opening reception saturday July 20th 7-11pm New regulations Performance alexandra Ben-abba 7-9pm Music ronen shai & Tal gur 9-11pm Closing reception sunday august 4th 4-7pm artists Talk 5pm
launchPad 721 Franklin avenue Brooklyn, NY 11238
Fragile TerriTories By rebecca Pristoop Fragile Territories brings together artwork by three israeli artists of the same generation who explore their While each artist moved to the United states to pursue her own artistic exploration, it is the home she left behind that beckons her full attention. individually, the artists wrestle with poetic notions of faith and loss while enacting artistic processes that question the division between personal identity and national responsibility. Together, they represent a growing community of israeli expats inheritance. While all three artists source photographs as a starting point, they transform and interpret them through various means. Using materials and processes as diverse as performance, painting, and hyper-collage, each artist navigates the fragile territories between security and accountability within israel’s national history as it intersects with a thinly veiled private life.
alexandra Ben-abba, Noa Charuvi and Naomi safran-Hon became familiar with each other while participating in a study group on the Nakba, the seizure of land and expulsion of Palestinian people surrounding the declaration of the state of israel. With overlapping subject matter and shared biographies—each artist grew up in a mixed city with racial
exhibition is a meeting ground for both their community and those with a stake in this conversation.
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alexandra Ben-abba alexandra Ben-abba gathers images of military destruction and confrontation from social media outlets. she observes the relationships within these captured moments and investigates them through glass, installation, performance and video. For Fragile Territories, Ben-abba presents the performance New Regulations, and a video entitled Always On Our Plate. New Regulations mimics the israeli security checkpoints located throughout the occupied Territories and questions ideas of security, complicity and power. Always on Our Plate documents a group of friends sharing a traditional israeli meal. The friends appear oblivious plates and the rocks and cement impeding their use of serving utensils. as such, the video reveals the banality of israeli politics in everyday life.
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Always on Our Plate, 2013 Performance
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Always on Our Plate, 2013 installation: blown glass, cement, wire, utensils and plates Dimensions variable
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New Regulations, 2013 Performance
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Noa Charuvi Noa Charuvi gathers photographs from news sources as her point of departure. Using paint on canvas, she deconstructs photojournalistic moments to work through questions of nationality and identity. painterly interpretation, she abstracts and distills images to examine disappearance and displacement in a broader context. in this way, her investigation travels from the personal to the universal. With deliberate
person, place and thing. What remains are emotions and sensations of anonymity and isolation. For Fragile Territories, Charuvi presents a suite based upon images of gaza obtained during operation Cast lead.
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Melt, 2013 oil on Canvas, 11x14 inches
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Sister, 2013 oil on canvas 10 x 10 in.
Rusty, 2013 oil on Canvas, 11x14 in.
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Umbrella, 2013 oil on canvas 12 x 16 in.
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Pink Path, 2011 oil on canvas mounted on panel 11 x 14 in. Cell, 2013 oil on canvas 11 x 14 in
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Naomi safran-Hon Naomi safran-Hon composes her own photographs in Wadi salib, a dilapidated neighborhood in her hometown of Haifa and transforms them into what she calls hyper—collage. once inhabited by 65,000 Muslim and Christian arabs, Wadi salib devolved into a slum. safran-Hon mounts her photographs on canvas and cuts into the images of crumbling structures, removing broken windows and doorways. she then begins the process of rebuilding by covering the fractured walls with lace and pushing wet cement through the voids. layering surface and texture, safran-Hon interrupts the silence of her source photographs and gives voice to the untold stories of absent inhabitants.
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Absent Present: Wadi Salib 16 (Green Lace), 2012 archival ink jet print, lace and cement on canvas 36 ½ x 54 ½ in.
Haifa i, 2011 archival ink jet print, lace and cement on canvas 8 ½ x 10 in.
Cast Lead Viii (bomb), 2012 archival ink jet print, lace and cement on canvas 4 ¾ x 8 ¼ in.
Wadi Salib: Blocked, 2012 Cement on canvas 9 x 13 in.
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Home Front ii, 2011 archival ink jet print, lace and cement on canvas 12 x 8 in.
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Absent Present: Wadi Salib xiii, 2011 archival ink jet print, lace and cement on canvas and fabric 77 ½ x 72 ½ in.
Fragments: interior Landscape iii, 2013 archival laser print, lace and cement on canvas 8 ½ x 11 in.
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alexandra Ben-abba (israeli, b. eugene, oregon, 1979) originally trained in glass and ceramics, alexandra Ben-abba employs performance, video and interactive installation as means to engage with process. The relationships explored in her time-based practice touch upon the uncertainty, aggression and helplessness often
Noa Charuvi (israeli, b. Jerusalem, israel, 1979) Noa Charuvi’s paintings examine the architectural destruction of war as a metaphor for loss. referring to photographs taken in the occupied Territories, she recreates these sites of confrontation to examine disappearance and displacement in a broader, more universal context. Charuvi received
Naomi safran-Hon (israeli, b. oxford, england, 1984) interested in pushing boundaries, Naomi safran-Hon challenges both ideas about art and politics. Using cement as paint and lace as canvas, she explores the borders of her region and the limits of painting and offers her viewers a bridge to the political world beyond the white cube. safran-Hon
rebecca Pristoop is an independent curator and art historian. she received her Ma in art History from New York University’s
exhibitions at The Tang Museum, The Museum of Modern art and The Jewish Museum. Past independent projects include Temporary states and breadaffair. she lives and works in Brooklyn.
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