Si è concluso da pochi giorni un intrigante intervento creativo di Zadok Ben-David presso la galleria Shoshana Wayne, Santa Monica, California.
Shoshana Wayne Gallery is pleased to present People I Saw But Never Met by
Zadok Ben-David. This is the London-based artist’s third solo
exhibition with the gallery.
People I Saw But Never Met
(2015-2017) is Ben-David’s latest ongoing body of work, which, to date,
includes over 3,000 chemically etched miniature figures and 45 larger
hand-cut figures made from aluminum. Culled from photographs the artist
took of people he encountered from a distance as a result of his
travels to Europe, The United States, Central Asia, Far East Australia,
and Antarctica, the installation brings together an unlikely assemblage
of global citizens. Ben-David’s sculptural milieu comes at a critical
point in our current socio-political climate where heated debates about
exclusion and borders versus inclusivity and multiplicity are part of
our daily experience.
Multiplicity as an organizing principle has played a significant role in Ben-David’s work starting with Evolution and Theory (1995) to his two previous exhibitions at the gallery Blackfield (2009) and The Otherside of Midnight
(2013). Known for creating multiple versions of a singular natural
form such as flowers or butterflies, each variation bearing a unique
gesture by the artist, Ben-David’s installations create an alternate
amplified viewing space where the relationship between viewer (human)
and artwork (nature) is both sacred and destabilizing. Where
multiplicity differs in People I Saw But Never Met is in the
artist’s approach toward an ethos of pluralization. Ben-David’s
accumulation of real-life global people suggests the ways in which we
are both isolated yet always in relation to one another. The sand which
anchors the figures acts also as a collective ground on which we stand
or as the substance from which we all spring and despite variations in
scale, there is no hierarchy, each figure no matter his or her origin is
treated with dignity and respect.
Zadok
Ben-David has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and Asia
including, Kenpoku Art Festival, Irabaki Prefecture, Japan (2016); The
Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, Tashkent (2015); National Museum of the
Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana (2014); Singapore Botanical Gardens
presented by Sotheby’s (2013); and The Tel Aviv Museum (2009 and 2010)
amongst many others. Ben-David has participated in prestigious
biennials worldwide including, Busan Biennial, South Korea (2010);
Biennale Cuveé (2009); Wonder Singapore Biennale, Singapore
(2008); and the Venice Biennale, Italy (1988). He is the recipient of
both the Grande Biennial Premio at the XIV Biennale Internacional de
Arte de Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal (2007) as well as the Tel Aviv
Museum prize (2005). The artist lives and works in London.
