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Galatea![]() 4.2002 - "Galatea " Y. Constant Sculpture Gallery, Ramat Gan Curator: Ina Aruetty Galatea of Greek mythology is the lifelike sculpture of the perfect woman, fashioned by Pygmalion and brought to life by Venus in answer to his prayer. Three groupings are displayed in this exhibition: two, in different media, on the wall, and a third complex grouping in the center of the hall. In terms of form, they all share the motifs of rings, circles, and orbs. The wooden circles form a flat primal grouping. Sensing their rhythm, we observe the forms created deep within the wood, giving shape to the vanities of the physical drive in the search for a dynamic interpretation of a different truth. This truth is expressed in the second series. Here, in a different medium and images, are inner monologues, the conflicts of human soul-searching enclosed deep within the images of reality. The figures pursue one another, with the cast of the artist, Tami Cohen, revealing and examining itself in the search for its genuine identity. The installation reveals a charged encounter between misery and power, between weakness and strength, a hidden connection between submission and might, with the tears choked back, that conceals the silent pain of the quest for freedom and discovery of a life with no constraints. Tami Cohen presents herself in a world with different values, and strives to help the viewer take in the nuances of the atmosphere. She creates a special intimacy, attempting to assess the connection between conveying events and external awareness of the demanding act of giving birth. By arranging half the figures in an elliptical formation and having the upper section parallel the lower, she transforms the physical drive into a spiritual impulse. Correctly proportioned female mannequins represent an aesthetic grouping of angelic women, with perfect blue eyes, curling eyelashes, and long legs. The implied covering represents a physical cloak for the concepts conceived as parts of monologues that are mere lies and fantasies in the modern cycle of life. Yet they can give rise to a new truth by creating life. What links all the artist's works together is the unique female experience of pregnancy and the wonder of birth, the process of making something out of nothing. The system of human reproduction plays both a conscious and an unconscious role, challenging social norms. In the exhibition, however, the figures become objects. The infant is not born, but rather appears as an amorphic form, an image or object. Again we find the echoing circles ringing the heads of the mannequins and creating a sense that they are forging new paths, demanding their own space. The woman within a protective circle utters a social protest. After the shock of birth, will she succeed in coping with the sober reality of contemporary life while being forced by social dictates to submit to he creations? The viewer is an active participant in the experience, sharing in the tangibility, sensuality, and questioning of the forms. Is there any possibility of enjoying the positive without the negative, without the pain, within a value system that seeks, falters, and at times even deceives? Ina Aruetty, Curator |
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