Artist: Gili Avissar
Curated by: Piotr Sikora
Venue: Kostka Gallery, MeetFactory, Prague, The Czech Republic
Date: January 25 – February 18, 2018
Photography: Tomáš Souček / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kostka Gallery
Just look around. You see a vibrant environment made from different materials and fabrics stretched around the gallery space. Grotesque masks followed by various disguises, and all kinds of patterns creating a rich and splashy installation. There is something pleasing yet obscene in it. It’s somewhat dirty, although not in a sexual sense. Rather it reminds us in a way of the pupal stage of a butterfly. The small yet complex universe that unfolds in front of our eyes is handmade and completely free of ready-made. There is neither space for repetition, neither for boredom.
Avissar multi-disciplinary artist, was born in Haifa, 1980. He lives and works in Tel Aviv. Avissar has earned a B.F.A and M.F.A from the Bezalel Academy.
Avissar has exhibited widely, across Israel and abroad. Solo exhibitions were presented at Galerie Koal, Berlin, DE (2017); Uri and Rami Nehushtan Museum, Kibbutz Ashdot Ya’acov, IL (2017); Artists Unlimited Gallery, Bielefeld, DE ( 2016); Nahum Gutman Museum, Tel Aviv, IL (2015); Nachmani 22, Tel Aviv [Parasite Project], IL (2013); Kav 16 Gallery, Tel Aviv, IL (2012); Kunstverein, Leipzig, DE (2011); Rupert Pfab Gallery, Düsseldorf, DE (2011). A partial list of group exhibitions includes: Nonfinto, Artport, Tel aviv, IL (2017); Kunstverein Konstanz, DE (2015); The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, IL (2015); Circle 1 Gallery, Berlin, DE (2014); Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, IL(2013); Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, DE (2012); Marta Herford Museum, DE (2012); Museum Goch, DE (2011); Kunstverein Gütersloh, DE (2011); Haifa Museum of Art, IL (2010 & 2009); Substitut Gallery, Berlin, DE (2009); ArtTLV, the Tel Aviv-Yafo Biennial, IL (2009); Kunsthalle Luzern, CH (2009).
Avissar has won various grants and art prizes, among them are The MeetFactory residency program Prague (2017-2018), The Artport residency program in Tel Aviv (2016-2017), Israel Lottery Council for Culture and Arts (2017, 2016); the Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts (2012, 2010); The Young Artist Award (2012); The Isracard and Tel Aviv Museum of Art Prize (2010);.
Works by Avissar are kept in collections in Israel and abroad, among them the Tel Avi.
Performance by Carolina Arandia, Veronika Cimborova, Asia Gruberska and Gili Avissar
