Noa Arad Yairi Exhibit at Zadik Gallery

Small in stature, deep in conversation or dreams, resting, bent over a task or gazing up, searching the skies – a community of women gleam black against the golden sand in Noa Arad Yairi’s Synechdoche, an exhibit of ceramic sculptures at Zadik Gallery.

The small scale of these sculptures draws the viewer in close and a sense of intimacy permeates the space. There is a sensual quality to the material in the soft folds of a shirt, the finely delineated fringes of a scarf, exquisitely rendered details and places where the artist has chosen to let the surfaces remain rough. Arranged on a long table in the center of the gallery, the exhibit, while composed of individual sculptures, functions visually as an installation, generating a world of associations. An island of women: yet it is not a utopia. The women are not idealized; they are presented in a range of human gesture and emotion, from the simple to the surreal.

Wandering into the gallery just a few days before the exhibit closes (Sunday, June 26th is the last day) I happened to encounter the artist, Noa Arad Yairi and asked her about the process of creating Synechdoche. She explained that the sculptures are all based on her friends. She began by taking photographs of these friends, searching for the shots that represent their natural body movement and characteristic poses. Each sculpture is based on a photo, and is created from a block of clay, sculpted in a process of reduction.  Noa conceived of the project four years ago, she said, “I imagined a long table with sculptures; I wanted to create a community of women.” The sculptures currently on exhibit represent two years of work.

Zadik Gallery (16 Shimon Hazadik Street in Jaffa, near the flea market) is usually open Monday – Thursday from 10:00 – 17:00, and Fridays from 10:00 – 14:00. This coming Sunday, June 26, 2011, the gallery will be open for one last opportunity to see the exhibit. For further information call: 077-495-6981.