Remains / Arie Berkowitz

Opening: Thursday, 31/8/2023 at 19:30

Gallery Talk: Friday, 18/11/2023 at 12:00

Closing: Friday, 2/12/2023 at 14:00

In the exhibition Remains, Arie Berkowitz presents new works from the last six months.  The works are built from remains, remains from workshops (table legs, fabric, plastic parts, frames, plywood, etc.) remains from nature (unprocessed branches), remains from paintings (wooden stretcher frames), remains from sculpture (discarded decorative objects, broken sculptures), and photographs. Berkowitz gathers simple ready-made, industrial materials.  His works in the exhibition are presented as sketches in space, in a minimalist exhibition of three large works and three small works on shelves.  The works deal with basic terms such as: home, flower, wood, vase, tiger, portrait, parts of furniture.  The exhibition is mainly monochromatic, wood with shades of brown.  There is a “line” between the works drawn with red/orange patches of color, the original state of the material, which connects the pieces.  These color patches vary in size and position and together create tension and connections between the works.

Raz Samira

The title of the exhibition, Remains, reflects the gathering of neglected and abandoned materials, the remains of the day, remains of the thing, remains of life.   Berkowitz’s rescue of the remains and binding them together makes them into a new entity.

Berkowitz diverts the remains from their original purpose without removing their material essence and gives them a new existence, sometimes paradoxical in their new alliance.  He makes minor interventions with the materials, leaving visible traces, allowing the material itself to speak.  He does not discipline them to his desire, mostly the opposite.  The process is intuitive creativity.  He collects objects from the public space (city streets), creates in his private intimate space (his studio) and then presents them in the public space (the gallery).  The triangle of city/street, studio and gallery is apparent in his works over the years.  A symbiotic triangle that allows Berkowitz to continue to research the concept of material and movement, investigating balance and restraint in form, material, and color.  In his words, “the whole exhibition relies on restraint, creating a delicate balance between stability and final collapse.”

It appears that the spirit of the times in politics, public sphere, the tensions, bleeding wounds and failed attempts at dialogue, leave their traces in his artistic practice even if they are not blatantly political or social.