Barbur

On Tuesday 01.09 Amnon Ben-Ami’s exhibition was opened at Barbur

Violent but Good at heart

Violent but Good at Heart
What caught my attention the first time we walked into Amnon’s studio was a face (I prefer “face” and not a “head” or a “portrait”) painted on the bottom of a cardboard bed- pan.
Later on Amnon will name it “Don Quichotte” (burning red eyes and a black mustache). I told him the face reminds me of my father.
The bedpan is similar in shape to a hat. The painting affirms that it is a hat and not a bedpan, since now there is a face that is very much close to it. On it.
Butt-Face ?
Violent but Good at heart
Among other things, Amnon examines and paints biological imagery. Can’t free himself of dealing with the body. Inner and outer. Must write even when he paints. Painting, speaking and writing are all gathered to one place – the act of writing.
One firm action characterizes both the making and the outcome.
A single action produces one image.
The One?
A gullet, facial muscles, vocal cords and spines are spread in front of our eyes. The surgery is preformed on the painterly surface, on, and sometimes through, the material.
It seems that some of the objects also undergo a certain surgical procedure. The original object retains its materialness and smell, but loses its status and purpose in order to adopt new ones instead.
“Surgery” is a key word I must use when I look at these works. This word is used to describe a physical incision, but its Hebrew meaning also stands for “analysis” (of text or image). Amnon perform both tasks at the same time.
If he was only violent or only good at heart, then the work would have been boring and predictable. Only the combination of both qualities gives him the appeal he requires.

Avi Sabah