Lihi Turjeman / 2101
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2101 is a compressed cell of material, form and myth, inviting an experience of painting as a full-body observation. The room contains two diptychs, facing each other, with huge circles painted on them. An additional canvas, made of plaster, is showing a demon face coming out of it.

“Research shows: the gravity of the moon affects the human heart”. I am searching for testimony for my interest in weight, gravity and balance. How can art manifest the brave connection between the endless universe and the private body?

The two large works were created from one source, a bed of particles. These wall fragments are the basic particles of a world I am asking to articulate using visual means. The model of the entire universe is laid on local infrastructure, a temporary one. It’s in the heart of our urban lives.

The large works are so close to one another and to the viewer himself, placing him in a position where it is impossible to view them from a far, standing in any point of the room. Any chance for the illusion to take place is vanished, and the desired effect is canceled due to the room’s dimensions. One can only guess it is there. This type of practice wishes to expose the creation process of things, and at the same time pour meaning into them by relating to the space they are inhabited in, a space limiting the movement in it. The body is the part scanning the material up-close, only to find itself within it. The main principal of the work is revealed by an intimate and sensual participation of the viewer in it.The seam crossing the circles, the rough material presented as the surface of the moon, the halo of the “bang” created by the wall’s natural white color after the action of scraping it.”Demon” is a result of displacing a crumbling old wall onto a canvas. The figure appearing in it, in its current context, is an expression of free choice, as it is looking at one of two possible directions.

2101 is a future year, a code, a password.Out of all the science fiction fantasies, time travel seems to be the most imaginary one.Escaping time means escaping everything – history, guilt, regret, death.

Lihi Turjeman (b. 1985), graduated with honors her first degree studies in the art department at Bezalel academy in Jerusalem, and is currently completing her MFA studies there. During her studies, she received the Lauren and Mitchell Presser award for excellence in painting, and the Joseph and Ada Bulapio award for outstanding achievements in the department of history and theory. This is her fourth solo show to date.

In 2001 she exhibited her first exhibition, titled “At the Sight of”, at Julie M. gallery in Tel Aviv. In 2012 she showed “White Mule” at Rothschild 69 Projects, curated by Noam Segal. In Beginning of this year she presented “Kushi-Atlas” at Julie M.