Shai Azoulay / Vacated Space
—

Azoulay’s studio paintings lie at the core of his practice. In these works, the studio becomes a place to observe the painter, the act of painting, and the interplay between them. For Azoulay the studio is a vacated space where matter takes form. The exhibition title refers to a Kabbalistic term describing the moment when eternity makes space for creation.

The paintings offer a double perspective: the artist depicts the place in which he works while exposing the mechanisms of looking. Within the paintings, shifting dynamics unfold, between superiority and humiliation, humor and anxiety, admiration and disdain. The scenes move between fantasy and moments that seem to spin out of control. In one work the pregnant, male artist creates a world, in another, he struggles with imposter syndrome, copying art from a screen. Even when he leaps way in fear, fleeing the studio, the empty canvas calls him back. He returns because he’s not one. He’s part of a long lineage of painters, and for him, painting is a spiritual act. As Azoulay puts it, talent is ultimately the abilty to show up at the studio and confront, again and again, the painting and it’s relevance.

In a time of fast images and endless screens, where it is difficult to distinguish between the thing itself and its representation, the studio becomes a place of discernment. A space where painting insists on its relevance. A place where “to be” means “to be painted”. Vacated Space is an exhibition about painting and about the painter, and about the daily effort to create meaning within the noise.