Nehushtan

The group exhibition Nehushtan, curated by artist Uri Gershuni, will open at Chelouche Gallery on Thursday 15.05.14 at 8 pm.

The title of the group exhibition Nehushtan, curated by Uri Gershuni, is taken from the biblical story of Moses and the Israelites at the end of their journey through the desert: "8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." (Book of Numbers, 21)

Gershuni is conducting an interpretive/hermeneutic reading into the biblical text by works of art and through reflections on art making; he suggests understanding the story in a way that highlights the tension between real life and art, origin and imitation, wounding and healing, death and life, and the way all these come across through speech/language. Word plays, tones and phonosemantics add another layer to the visual experience- they echo as magical whispers while viewing the exhibited works.

Participating artists: Mirit Cohen, Pinchas Cohen-Gan, Bianca Eshel-Gershuni, Moshe Gershuni, Stephan Goldrajch, Amir Neve, Avi Sebah, Shai Yehezkelli.

Uri Gershuni (b. 1970) holds a BFA and MFA from the Departments of Photography and Fine Arts, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He is the recipient of the Young Artist Award, the Israeli Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport (2000), the Young Photographer Award, Haifa Museum of Art (2005), and the Israel’s Minister of Culture ‘Art Encouragement’ Award (2012). Gershuni has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Israel and abroad and has curated several exhibitions in leading galleries and museums in Israel.