GLITCH

Litvak Contemporary, May–July 2024

Brothers of Light

Curator: Hadas Glazer

Catalogue editor: Orit Ephrat-Moscovits

Design: Inbar Dekel

English translation and Hebrew editing: Maya Shimony

Installation photograghy: Youval Hai

Reproductions photography: Yahav Trudler, Youval Hai (p.37)

Measurements are given in centimeters – height x length

Litvak Contemporary Shvil Hamifal 3 Street, Tel Aviv 66535, ISRAEL +972-3-7163897

www.litvakcontemporary.com

GLITCH

Glitch is a technical problem or malfunction in a computer program. It is also a genre of experimental electronic music and visual art, characterized by images, video footage, and sounds that are the random byproducts of failures in the operation of electronic and digital devices. From skipping CDs, to distorted and jumbled images, to software bugs and system crashes that become complete artworks.

In Glitch, the artist duo and siblings Brothers of Light, Gab (1991) and Elna (1987), delve into the dysfunctional and incongruous encounter that occurred after October 7th, between the painful reality of war and mind-altering substances and psychedelic experiences they had. The faulty meeting of war and psychedelia opened up layers of parallel realities and surreal realms, providing them an escape, catharsis, and relief. In the exhibition, these experiences receive visual expression in murals and two series of works on canvas: Containers and Glitch .

However, the works do not portray political events or warfare. They combine the Brothers’ symbolic language with the artistic rendering of glitches generated by AI software, in meticulous painting techniques that demonstrate a deep understanding of color and play with the tension between contours and formal overlaps, mass and lightness, lines and fields of color. The colorful and playful energy of the paintings inspires a sense of overwhelming vitality throughout the gallery space, as though wishing to offer an alternative to the painful feelings of the present moment.

The Containers series, which consists of paintings of vases and cacti, is a response to two contrasting events: a shamanic ritual with psychoactive substances and the shock of the war that immediately followed. The juxtaposition of the two events created an impossible situation of dealing with spiritual transcendence while also experiencing intense and paralyzing pain.

The siblings created the images of containers as a symbolic idea that offers an outlet for the inner feeling of turmoil. The containers are based on interactions between abstract shapes, gradients, and color combinations that flow into one another. This allows interplay and imagined transitions between different levels of reality. Alternatively, these works can be seen as an invitation to explore the conflicting inner realities that dwell in the human psyche side by side.

The second series, Glitch , comprises seemingly abstract paintings, which in fact turn out to be realistic paintings, blurring the line between objective reality and subjective experience. The images were created by panoramic photography of the brothers’ previous works. Gab and Elna’s use of AI software produces deliberate glitches and distortions, which are then magnified and become the subject of the painting, offering the glitch as a means for expanding reality and traveling to an alternate realm.

Glitch invites the viewer to step into the siblings’ surreal world, experience the fluid boundaries of reality, and contemplate the existence of parallel realities. Each work serves as a portal to an alternative event and a channel for reflecting on the subconscious and the nature of existence.

“Expand Life,” asks one of the works, like a mantra reminding us that there are spaces and landscapes to which we can expand. In that sense, Glitch is a call to go embark on a mesmerizing journey into the surreal and the subconscious.

Contain Series 05, 2024

Acrylic enamel on cavas

50 x 20

Unstable Moment Contain, 2024

Acrylic enamel on cavas

70 x 160

Contain Series 03, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas

75 x 30

Balanced Afternoon, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas

70 x 40

This Time Journey, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas 120 x 115

The Sunset, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas

90 x 30

Open Loop, 2023

Acrylic enamel on canvas

140 x 100

A Life After Life, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas6

60 x 80

Inside/Outside 02, 2024

Acrylic enamel on cavas

60 x 40

Acrylic enamel on cavas 60 x 40

Contain Series 04, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas

45 x 45

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Contain Series 02, 2024

Acrylic enamel on cavas

60 x 40

Contain Series 01, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas

65 x 45 Inquire

Expand Life (diptych), 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas

90 x 20 + 40 x 30

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Cactus Above Cactus, 2024

Acrylic enamel on canvas

90 x 30

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Containg Eyes Symbol, 2024

Acrylic enamel on cavas

38 x 32

Dupligate, 2023

Acrylic enamel on cavas

140 x 100 Inquire

Billboards Along the Way, 2023

Acrylic enamel on canvas

114 x 165

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Triangle Glitch, 2023

Acrylic enamel on canvas

130 x 170

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Surprised, 2023

Acrylic enamel on cavas

80 x 100

Future Hamsa, 2023

Acrylic enamel on cavas

170 x 120

Sabres and Gates, 2023

Acrylic enamel on cavas

100 x 100

Sabres and Gates Small, 2023

Acrylic enamel on cavas

50 x 40

Bench 1, 2024

Acrylic enamel on concrete

44 x 141 x 40

Bench 2, 2024

Acrylic enamel on concrete

44 x 141 x 40