The visual art, as a manufacturer, reveals its immoral aspect; the artistic act is an evolution of an abstract idea or emotion into an object, that later evolves into a product. This action is translated and evaluated in the capitalistic world. Therefore, a work of art, as naive or self aware as it may be, is by itself a somewhat immoral act, over-flooding the world with objects and images.
Art today, functions as a product and a critique tool, simultaneously. Even the most subversive work of art, manufactures a product, an object that can be evaluated by the conventional criteria; it can be bought and sold as any other merchandise.
The exhibition, “Snipers on a Can” examines the terms ‘assemblage’, 'ready-made', ecological art and the role of art today- as a manufacturer. The exhibition presents 3 artists: Haran Mendel, Dror Karta and Rimma Arslanov. Dror Karta and Haran Mendel, both combine various ready-mades into their work. Rimma Arslanov, exhibits an exciting body of work which deconstructs the objects by re- creating them in a different manner.
Dror Karta, 'Florentin 45 Gallery' artist, exhibits various sculptures, objects and paintings; a mere fragment from the infinite abundance that fills up his studio. Karta exhibits sculptures from different periods of time: some are his earlier pieces-figurative and classic, while others are crossbreeds of different ‘ready- made' and found objects. For example, Jesus on a hanger, toy soldiers on a sardine can, a male organ within a bullet and more. His works obtain ominous humor and self- awareness and despite their often morbid and violent content, they manage to portray a certain light-footedness of a seemingly impulsive, uncontrolled act. Karta mediates various conceptual contents known to the art discourse, such as the combination of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art (a sardine can plated with gold), while some of his pieces are also charged with political and personal meaning. On the one hand, his artistic process echoes the 'Arte-Povera' movement (painting on a familiar plywood, using found and cheap materials). On the other hand, his art implies a material abundance, an urgent need to endlessly accumulate and discharge objects and materials. Karta's work portrays his libidinal drive that creates a unique, invigorated world of hybrids, filled with sexuality and passion.
Haran Mendel is a Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design MFA graduate. His current body of work exhibits an assemblage of various materials, found objects and images. He uses random images from magazines and news paper cut-outs as his 'color palette'. The raw materials for his sculptures are readymade objects which he collects and brings to his studio space; their surprising combination creates a new and unexpected context. Mendel gives the unglamorous objects and images a new meaning, reflecting today's fleeting trends and fashions. His sculptures almost mimic eerie live creatures, filled with humor and sophistication.
Rimma Arslanov, an Avni Institute for Art and Design graduate, exhibits various sculptors from different periods of her artistic process. In a way, her work re-creates trivial, everyday objects, which seemingly might serve as raw materials for Mendel and Karta’s work. Meaning, she chooses a few objects, some that carry cultural and social baggage, and re-makes them by enlarging their scale and substituting their material. For example, the “Mashrabiya” - a common brick from the Islamic traditional artchetiture is re-created in large scale, covered with fuzzy gray fur, providing an optical illusion and granting the politically charged, heavy object- sudden softness. In a world over-flooded with objects, Arslanov puts daily, ordinary things, under a surprising spotlight and therefore raises environmental and cultural questions.
