"In her paintings, Hadar Gad attempts to reach the heart of things: their painstakingly mortal material core...one must open his/her eyes for a prolonged period of time in order to grasp life's truths." Irit Mor explores this exhibition at the Rothschild Fine Art Gallery.
Solo Exhibition by Hadar Gad
February 26- March 26, 2011
Rothschild Fine Art Gallery
Hadar Gad stares blankly at the essence of the objects before her. Her realistic paintings are accurate and meticulous close-ups of the items and sights that comprise our lives in their silence and bear our imprints within them. The paintings speak in plural from the mouth of the individual, the mouth of the artist; a quiet and private voice that rises and gains prominence through viewing.
In slow motion, the gaze shifts focus from detail to detail: from a rock to a leaf, from a forgotten pipe to an infinitely old tree stem, from the edge of a tombstone to the rim of an isolated plant pot. Throughout this process, the futile becomes abstract only to return to matter once more, in the form of a monochrome color palate.
Hadar Gad began painting five years ago at the cemetery of the Ein Harod Kibbutz, where she was born. Week after week, year after year, Hadar's presence carefully lays out the personal life stories that are stored in the cemetery, along with the historical memory and universal sense of loss that accompany sentiments of dwindling ideals such as settlement, pioneering and sacrifice. She sketches and oil paints every new place countless times, which helps her see the cemetery in a new light and thus recreating it as a space of both formation and disintegration, both bloom and death.
The works mostly depict a downward facing gaze, towards the ground. This point of view seems to seek to touch the ground itself, where the light is kept and where the spirits and souls of persons who have passed away are entrapped. Every stare removes a layer, as though stripping the painting and the reality it is based on, leaving hardly anything but rhythm and a stain. With so little left and no opposition, still the disintegration is incomplete. The material does not forfeit its superiority and timelessness. It cannot do so because it is plagued by dual emotions of despair and destruction beside vivacity and constant movement.
In her paintings, Hadar Gad attempts to reach the heart of things: their painstakingly mortal material core. To achieve this, one must open his/her eyes for a prolonged period of time in order to grasp life's truths through art.
Opening Hours:
Monday through Thursday 11.00-18.30
Friday 10.00-13.00
Saturday 11.00-13.00
Address: 140 Rothschild Blvd. Tel Aviv
Telefax: +972 77 5020484
