Blind Spot

/ אישון לילה
Video and Animation 2018
11:18 min
 

On Display from March 16. 
Bikkurim, The New Gallery - Artists Studios Teddy stadium,
Jerusalem, Israel.
Curator: Sally Haftel Naveh.

Credits:
Photography and Lighting: Tomer Zmora
Compositing and Animation: Or Drori
Sound desigh: Dan Kisler, Gal Hochberg

Renana Aldor's work presents a journey of self-discovery in three metaphorical episodes that establish the artistic self. Like the mirror stage in psychoanalytic theory, in which infants recognize their physical independence after seeing their reflection in the mirror, the artist establishes herself by addressing three genres in classical art - portrait, still life, and landscape - which take place inside the unconscious. The frame emerges from the darkness, lingering and investigating, in order to meet its subject - first the artist sitting motionless on a simple wooden chair; then a detailed collection of still life painted entirely white, resting upon a table;  and ultimately a three-dimensional animated car model that hides the typography of a landscape inside. The movement of the camera is repeated in each episode - it curiously scans the object, then zooms in and lingers attentively, and finally moves on, disappearing into the suffocating darkness , only to emerge once more and scan the next subject in the same fashion, in an eternal loop.

The movement of the camera, which dives slowly into the depths of the frame and back out - approaching the scene and turning away from it - bestows upon this occurrence a dream-like dimension, which intensifies the sense that the images before us are merely reflections in the artist's pupils, and not part of an exterior autonomous reality. This process intensifies the surreal experience that encompasses the work, which cycles between the tangible dimension and a calculated, artificial reality inside a misleading illusory atmosphere.

text by Sally Heftel Naveh