Gabriella Klein: Unveiling

Curator: Ron Bartos

Gabriella Klein’s curtains and drapery murals are incorporated into the display of the historical collection as a compelling backdrop, a deceptive trompe-l’oeil, and an act of painting trickery. The encounter with artworks from the collection, which have been stowed away from the public for many years, imbues these murals with the symbolic significance of unveiling.

Gabriella Klein (b. 1970) is an Israeli-American painter. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and holds a BFA from MassArt in Boston and an MFA from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. Her painting is anchored in direct observation. Even when it is created “with eyes closed” and the creative process is driven by the needs of the painting, her practice still retains the memory of the experience of observation. We could point to three key characteristics of Klein’s paintings: Her compositions are mostly centered on fragments of the painted body, landscape, or object; she focuses on elements like textures and lighting, emphasizing their visual expression; and finally, her works celebrate the mimetic effect of painting, that is, its ability to deceptively imitate reality to the point of optical illusion. This effect is perhaps most pronounced in Klein’s drapery paintings, particularly in the murals of fabrics, like the ones she painted for this exhibition.

While Klein’s drapery murals are indeed masterful trompe-l’œils, by no means are intended just to play tricks on the viewer or as mere representations of concealment and revelation cultural mechanisms. Rather, they exemplify the jubilant joy of exploring the gamut of possibilities offered by painting and by the genre. With her drapery paintings, Klein enhances the visual experience, ignites the curiosity of the gaze, and conjures tactile stimulation (sense of touch) through the eye (sense of sight). In the context of the exhibition at the Negev Museum of Art, she adds an air of gravity to the works of other historical and contemporary artists, in a reverential gesture of unveiling. Drawing back the curtain is a physical and metaphysical opening of the gaze beyond the curtain of the Holy Ark (parochet), so it can see the art object and its aura, like the aura of the encounter with divinity: “This is analogous to a king who was in a hall with his friend and there was a curtain between them. When he would speak with his friend, he would fold the curtain until he could see his friend face-to-face and speak with him (Vayikra Raba 1:13).” And behold, the curtains fold back and allow us a face-to-face encounter.

installation photos: Lena Gomon