BE THEREINDUSTRIAL BAROQUEPresented by Stux Gallery April 26, 2007- May 26, 2007Reception: April 26, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pmZigi Ben-Haim
Ben-Haim creates a new world that exists somewhere between abstraction and representation. His iconography, which appears consistently throughout his work, references our current state of environmental affairs: habitat loss, global warming and the squandering of non-renewable natural resources. At the same time, his images and dynamic spaces, force viewers to examine their own personal relationships within an atmosphere of urban experience. The works in this exhibition are largely inspired by the artist's recent commission by NASA to pay tribute to the Columbia space shuttle. Employing the grand scale of the universe, as well as our place as individuals in it, Ben-Haim’s bold imagery and assertive colors suggest that we must be vigilant in remembering our relationship between the world of nature and man-made world. To address this relationship, the artist has created a new visual language, a disparate grouping of elements that represent the building blocks of life: leaves, bricks, ants, writing, fire, water, etc. Melding these urban elements with those from his native home in the Middle East, Ben-Haim creates traces of multi-layered compositions that invite viewers to delve deeper, past the veneer of the works. Wire mesh, aluminum panels, paper and collage all merge to create pieces as unified in their message as they are in their visceral visual statement. The oscillation between the larger universe, invented forms and our more immediate personal environments is a constant in Zigi Ben-Haim’s work, creating a vivid sense of movement and contrast. These highly textured “sculptural paintings” are a testament, not only to existence and survival, but also to Ben-Haim’s determination to create a universe within a universe. A fully illustrated color catalogue, titled INDUSTRIAL BAROQUE, will accompany the exhibition. The catalogue includes an interview by Beth Wilson, a member of the International Art Critics Association (AICA). Zigi Ben-Haim is an internationally acclaimed artist for more than 30 years whose work can be found in the collection of museums such as the Guggenheim, the Jewish Museum, New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Israel Museum, the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art and in numerous public and private collections around the world. His public sculptures have been traveling and exhibited for last seven years in many locations throughout the U.S. and Israel. Ben-Haim’s traveling retrospective opens at the Tel-Aviv museum September 2008.
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