Traces IV – Caught In The Thicket

The Fourth Biennale for Drawing

Traces IV – Caught in the Thicket

The Fourth Biennale for Drawing in Israel, initiated by the Jerusalem Artists’ House, has been held since 2001, and will spread out across five galleries in central Jerusalem. The concept for the present exhibition initially evolved from a dialogue with the three previous exhibitions, in which the state of contemporary drawing in Israel has been fully plotted: the diverse spectrum of themes, styles and techniques, indicated the abundant expressions of drawing and its validity as a major, vibrant medium with boundaries that today cross into new fields including installation, photography or literature.This pluralism posits the need to narrow the gaze and focus on the medium’s most quintessential, traditional characteristic, the line, as an autonomous component in the drawing practice, and even more significantly – on its myriad manifestations as a tangle or thicket of webs. The traced tangle introduces a position which sees the world as a spreading expanse of screens, grids, and rhizomes. The idiom of the thicket employs an abstract-modernist syntax that has been used in art for the past hundred years.As in previous biennials, “Traces IV” comprises several exhibitions, staged by independent curators in artistic venues throughout central Jerusalem, under the titular umbrella “Caught in the Thicket”: “ComplexCity” at the Agripas 12 Gallery (curators: Yemima Ergas and Yochi Negev); “Lost” at the Barbur Gallery (curators: Avi Sabah and Yanai Segal); “Flood” at the Jerusalem Print Workshop (curator: Irena Gordon); “Photographs: Gilad Ophir, Sharon Ya’ari” at the Ticho House (curator: Timna Seligman). This cluster of independent exhibitions invokes additional interpretations and insights regarding the spirit of the thicket in art, opening them up to mutual feedback; it offers the viewer an experience of wandering and scrutiny through the paths of the multifaceted, entangled, conflicted city of Jerusalem.Approximately one hundred artists from different generations and styles are participating in the exhibitions. The catalogue accompanying “Traces IV” includes a selection of works by all of the artists and texts written by the curators.

Participating Artists

Jerusalem Artists’ House:
Etti Abergel, Emil Abraham, Larry Abramson, Irmy Adani, Boaz Aharonovitch, Keren Anavy, David Arbitman, Maya Attoun, Yael Balaban, Ilan Baruch, Asaf Ben Zvi, Maya Bloch, Maya Cohen Levi, Tessy Cohen Pfeffer, Shibetz Cohen, Hagar Cygler, Itzhak Danziger, Drora Dekel, Gilad Efrat, Moshe Gershuni, Ita Gertner, Shira Glezerman, Gary Goldstein, Ilana Hamawy, Hedva Harechavi, Irit Hemmo, Orit Hofshi, David Isaacs, Dina Kahana Gueler, Dror Karta, Esther Knobel, Leopold Krakauer, Alex Kremer, Jossef Krispel, Moshe Kupferman, Raffi Lavie, Ephraim Moses Lilien, Hila Lulu Lin, Amir Nave, Riva Pinsky Awadish, Sharon Poliakine, Uri Radovan, Assaf Rahat, Assaf Romano, Michael Rorberger, Ilana Salama Ortar, Yehudit Sasportas, Ronen Siman Tov, Uri Sinai, Anna Ticho, Zvi Tolkovsky, Sigal Tsabari, Shaul Tzemach, Aviva Uri, Gal Weinstein, Sharon Ya’ari, Daniela Yaniv Richter, Reuven Zahavi, Masha Zusman

Agripas 12:
Emil Abraham, Vered Aviv, Meirav Davish Ben Moshe, Yemima Ergas, Nurit Gur Lavy (Karni), Tzion Abraham Hazan, David Isaacs, Shimon Lev, Doron Livne, Orna Millo, Yochi Negev, Edna Ohana, Dafna Sartiel, Yoav Weiss, Yeheskiel Yardeni, Lena Zaidel, Oded Zaidel, Genady Zehmaister

Barbur Gallery:
Dalia Bachar, Tsibi Geva, Gabriella Klein, Lezli Rubin-Kunda, Ram Samocha

Jerusalem Print Workshop:
Etti Abergel, Einat Amir, Michal Bachi, David Behar Perahia, Avraham Eilat, Haya Ester, Ruth Horam, Uriel Miron, Pamela Silver, Ruth Tal, Noemi Tedeschi Blankett, Leora Wise

Ticho House:
Peter Jacob Maltz and David Behar Perahia, Gilad Ophir, Anna Ticho, Sharon Ya’ari