Insects / Tamarin Makarov

Curator: Einav Baranes Eliasov

Opening: Friday, 9.4.2021, 10:00-14:00

An online Gallery Talk: Sunday 9.5.21, 19:30, For registration

Closing: Saturday, 5.6.2021, 14:00

The exhibition presents research, observation and photographs of insects and arthropods in their natural habitat, in the open air, in nature.  In the studio the photographs are enlarged, and their original background is removed, isolating them from their natural environment.

Makarov is a photographer, a visual medium that is two dimensional.  In the body of work presented in the exhibition she searches for the tension between the two-dimensional image and the three-dimensional object created on the wheel, fascinated by the small details that are hidden from the naked eye and become apparent with the enlarged photograph and its placement on the vessel.

Her attraction to insects comes from her desire to activate the 2D photograph and create a productive dialog between the images and the clay objects. The images “live” on the clay and become legitimate as they are magnified and the unique details of their bodies are exposed, a different encounter from the day to day. She examines the border between nature and the domestication of insects as they blend into the tableware.

In the exhibition there is also a series that deals with death, black bottles printed with dry white leaves and adjacent is a photograph of a dead wasp.  Makarov’s search for vitality takes a turn and emphasizes the tension between life and death around us.

Insects are part of a world with different laws and the relationship between insects and humans throughout humanity has been complex.  Some insects are harmful to man such as in agriculture, whereas some are beneficial and are responsible for the fertilization of flowers.  Insects have an important role in the ecological system and indirectly have a big influence on man.

The works refer to attraction and rejection, boldly displayed on the white tableware, where each insect is invited to settle into his specially prepared object with an unfamiliar environment, isolated or in sporadic groups.