Ofer Lellouche | Atelier

Ofer Lellouche | Atelier
Opening Reception: Thursday, May, 24, 2012
Curator: Leore Yahel Ohad

During the past twenty years, Lellouche has exhibited solo shows at various museums in Israel and worldwide: at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art 2001, at the Tefen Museum 2006, “Head to Meina”- a solo show, extension of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art at the Jaffa port 2009. He also exhibited his sculptures at the Sculpture Garden, Israel Museum. However, since 1993 he hasn’t had a solo show at a gallery in Israel. Therefore, his reconnection to an Israeli gallery this year ) Zemack Gallery( contributed another unique, ethical aspect to our collaboration.

The exhibition Atelier, shown in all three spaces of the gallery, tells the story of a new body of work. Lellouche created this series after working on two monumental sculptures for two years; one of them, which was borrowed by the municipality from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, is currently exhibited at the Rivka Ziv Park.

Working on large bronze sculptures for a while, triggered his desire to work in small scale. He began drawing the statues in his studio space, within their natural environment; hence creating a series of small oil paintings, describing random situations. With time, he felt the need to create something less arbitrary and commenced organizing the sculptures in various compositions; series of sketches and large canvases. At a certain point, Lellouche felt that this was not enough; he wanted to create a total experience and therefore built a small model of his studio, and the sculptures within it. Subsequently, a series of ‘atelier’ photographs was born, in which the artist has absolute control over the architecture, the lighting and the size of the sculptures.

Throughout art history, the subject of ‘atelier’ has intrigued many great masters, such as, the painter Jean Gustave Courbet and Pablo Picasso; both managed to describe the artist’s autobiography within the intimate space of his studio. Lellouche himself has handled this subject before. However, this is the rst time he chose to go deeper and deal with this subject matter directly. Because of the various mediums, scales and proportions, this exhibition exposes a different personal rhythm and sheds a new light on Lellouche’s familiar style, presenting him as an interdisciplinary artist.

During the past year, Lellouche has exhibited at the Albertina in Vienna and will soon be opening a solo exhibition at the CAFA Museum, in Beijing.