Gospels

Duo exhibition at the Bezalel Gallery for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

with artist Sharon Poliakine

Curator: Dor Guez

December 2024

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The duo person exhibition came together after over a year of collaboration between Ariel Hacohen and Sharon Poliakine. It is based on continuous dialogue and exchange of ideas, as part of a process that included many sketches and dynamic transitions between different media—painting, sculpture, and photography—in response to the many disasters that have befallen the region over the past year. The mutual point of departure for both artists is a dovecote for homing pigeons in Kfar Aza, which survived completely unharmed after the events of October 7. In relation to this context, the artists write:

“In our many conversations we spoke about the difficulty of capturing the current moment, and a lack of understanding about what’s happening around us. The pace of events and their tragic nature feels like an avalanche. The situation is always in flux. Relating to the present becomes challenging, because it changes every instant. We’re living in a time of mourning, experiencing loss of life and morality, and losing direction. In addition, we’re also experiencing a loss of individuality. Private pain is consumed or sunk within collective grief.”

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The exhibition also reflects the many connections between mourning and beauty, and the subject of absence stretches like a thread linking various works. For both artists, what remains becomes charged and takes shape as foundation and symbol, like a rabble of sculptural memorials — whether through tangible material or through constructing digital collages assembled from layers of original photographs.

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The exhibition title reflects an incessant and agonizing state of anticipation—waiting for the flap of wings or humming of an approaching pigeon . The image of the pigeon can be identified in various ways within the framework of the exhibition, and perhaps we can sense the remnants of what it left behind. The pigeon is always elusive and incomplete, however. It’s absent from the visual space, appears momentarily as a visitor and disappears with the blink of an eye, leaving viewers in a never ending search for the tidings that it bears.

 

Text by Dor Guez

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