Butterflies- Memento Mori, an exhibit of works on paper by Dror Ben Ami will open at Zadik Gallery on Friday, February 4, 2011 at 12:00. Presenting a different look at the image of butterflies, here is the gallery’s description of this intriguing exhibit:
Dror Ben-Ami’s formal technique in his series Butterflies is charcoal on paper. In reality he carves lines with a sharp scalpel on thin paper, embeds various kinds of dry charcoal into the slits and finally uses sand paper to expose the different layers. This semi-violent technique immortalizes the splendor of butterflies straying into a spider web thicket omnipresent in the artist’s studio. The butterfly series is a reincarnation of Ben-Ami’s examination and portrayal of the hidden life in his studio. He started by drawing the thorn in the vase, followed by the cobweb weaved on it and concluding with its victims. (The thorn and cobweb can be viewed at his time-drawings exhibition at the Wilfrid Israel Museum at Hazorea Kibbutz.)
The symmetry, colorfulness, vivacity and joy, nimble flight of an ephemeral butterfly – the butterfly’s childish image – are paradoxically present in Dror Ben-Ami’s work. Here he captures the butterflies in the moment between life and death like mummified butterfly wings pinned into decorative picture frames. As we draw closer we see the unraveling and decay of perfect symmetric beauty as well as the mutilated paper on which it is drawn.
Ben-Ami chooses to draw the butterflies in black-and-white since he is so comfortable with charcoal. Color does not allow him to examine the introversion, delicacy, frailness and textures of the wing. The colorfulness and baroque, detail laden shapes of the wings are surprisingly conveyed through the simplicity of the primitive black-and-white. The result is a rich and detailed yet reserved and melancholic ensemble.
The series exhibits the borderline between life and death as when we watch stuffed animals in a nature museum. Watching dead animals provokes reflection on how frail life is and recalls the lesson learnt from their fleetingness as in Giant butterfly flutters flutters and passes (anonymous haiku).
Dror Ben Ami: Butterflies – Memento Mori
Friday, February 4 – March 1, 2011
16 Shimon HaZadik Street, Jaffa
