DovOrNerNewWorks
Dov Or Ner
Curators: Sala-Manca
Guest Artist: Eitan Haviv
28.4-30.6.23
The exhibition of the esteemed artist Dov Or Ner, aged 96, is a sculptural installation consisting of three series of works from recent years – The Lepers’ Hotel (2023), My Friend Corona (2020), and The Sculptures Hotel (2018/2016), which were created in his home studio in Kibbutz Hazor. Or Ner used techniques such as collage and reproduction (Xerox copies) combined with drawing on the documents in markers or pencils. The source of all the works is uniformly sized A3 pages. Or Ner connects the mundane and the canonical, between childish markers and bold colours to industrial ink, mechanical reproduction and personal intervention.
The works are characterized by wit and humour, by choosing to continue to challenge artistic conventions, to indirectly reflect on political correctness, and to be endlessly playful. The exhibition is the creation of an artist in the tenth decade of his life who never stops working and does not shy away from touching on topics that are still taboo in art and society. His artistic intervention is poetic: the plague is the queen in his creation, and art is a carpet to walk on. Or Ner’s techniques in the different series raise aesthetic and political questions about duplication, reproduction, concealment, exposure, and enlargement.
In The Sculptures Hotel series, works on A3 pages are presented, which combine Xerox copies, marker colouring, and collage. The series features different figures encountering canonical sculptures, mainly from Israeli art. One of the characters who meet the sculptures in many works is the figure of Bad RenRo (Dov Or Ner reversed), which has already appeared in the artist’s past works and resembles Hitler in appearance. The artist himself is a work of art, and art is yet another figure. Also, Penelope, a character created by the artist Gil Yefman, often visits the imaginative space created by Or Ner.
The My Friend Corona series was created using the same techniques, but instead of presenting prints of his work, Or Ner chose to display enlarged prints in their original form, thus turning the copy into the source. This series, one of several created during the pandemic, is characterized by bold colours and a mix of terror and humour. A female figure representing the disease is repeated throughout the series. Replicas of the exact figure also appear outside the print series, such as a PVC rug that must be stepped on.
The series, The Lepers’ Hotel, is stored as digital files that the audience can print and take with them – a gift from Or Ner to the public that raises questions about ownership, economic value, and art display. The process of working on paper in this series – an obsessive perforation of the Xerox print with a pencil – gave rise to the musical creation of Eitan Haviv, which, like the perforation, intervenes, beats and penetrates the medium. In Haviv’s work (a family member of Or Ner who exhibits in the same exhibition), the exhibition wall, not the paper, serves as the medium. The piece is based on processing the recordings in which Haviv registered the stabbing of Or Ner during his work on the series.
The last piece in the exhibition is part of an artistic intervention. At the opening event, a sculpture made of newspapers created by the sculptor Gili Rahat, inspired by the iconic sculpture of Yitzhak Danziger, is placed at the entrance to the center. Rahat’s work was created in response to a request from Or Ner to hotel owners in Jerusalem (for the association’s exhibition) to display works by various artists inspired by the iconic sculpture. It echoes Or Ner’s work with folded paper. After the opening event, the sculpture will wander between hotels in the city.
The exhibition is held with the support of Artis’ Research Grant, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Culture.
Special thanks to Rivka Saker, Tali Tamir, Gaia and the entire Or Ner family.
Curators: Sala-Manca group | Production: Naama Mokady | Technical management and setup: Eitan Haviv | Graphic design: Maya Shleifer | Text editing: Inbal Kedar | Arabic translation: Anwar Ben-Badis | Programming: Amir Bolzman.
Opening hours: Tue-Thu 14:00-19:00, Fri 10:00-14:00
Closing: 30.6.23
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Talking about Dov: Facebook event | Tali Tamir, Dror Harari and Sala-Manca group
You are invited to an open meeting as part of Dov Or Ner’s new exhibition
2.6, 12:00, at Hansen House cinema
Opening remarks from the curators of the exhibition, Sala-Manca Group
Tali Tamir on the morbid element in Or Ner’s work
Dr. Dror Harari on “Metamorphosis”, a new work by Or Ner
Open conversation with the audience
Estimated finish at 2:00 p.m
The exhibition is open between 10:00 and 14:00 on Friday, it is recommended to arrive about half an hour before the meeting in order to walk around the exhibition.
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Opening Hours during Design Week at Hansen House 2023:
22.6, 19:30-24:00, 23.6, 10:00-16:00, 24.6, 10:00-22:00, 25-29.6, 16:00-23:00