Sommer Show

Artists from Sommer Gallery, Tel Aviv

June 10 - July 30, 2004
540 West 26th Street

Press Release

Lehmann Maupin would like to announce Sommer Show, an invitational exhibition presenting the work of five Israeli artists from Sommer Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv: Yehudit Sasportas, Doron Solomons, Eliezer Sonnenschein, Sharon Ya'ari, and Rona Yefman. The exhibition will be a significant opportunity to expose New York audiences to the work of these young artists.

The black marker landscape drawings of Yehudit Sasportas depict scraggy dried forests. The fine, linear renderings are meticulously hand drawn and recall architectural and scientific field drawings and diagrammatical patterns. Detailed, but nonspecific, Sasportas' drawings are constructed both freehand and aided by a straightedge. The use of both types of lines results in a fragmented natural setting, and a tension between the organic and technical.

Doron Solomons' projected video Lullaby presents nine separate flickering scenes of violent acts taken from news media from around the world. The images are visible for only a few seconds at a time and are accompanied throughout by a constant buzz. The relentless accumulation of the brutal moments presents the viewer with an overwhelming and violent snapshot of the world and human acts of brutality.

Eliezer Sonnenschein constructs painted life-size guns and rifles adorned with corporate logos and slogans. These brightly-colored weapons deal with corporate exploitation, consumer culture, and control over the masses in both violent and non-violent forms. The logos and cheery palate cover and conceal the agenda beneath. The artist regards the exhibition of the weapons as a form of guerrilla warfare. Sonnenschein's paintings on panel use fantastic and sinister images and symbols to create fictional scenes and narratives.

Sharon Ya'ari takes enigmatic photographs of the seemingly mundane or ordinary such as an empty set of chairs at a table. His photos are composed with a painter's sensibility and a careful consideration of framing. With nothing apparently concrete to have justified a serious photograph of the subject matter, the act of doing so becomes absurd, and the meaningless effort to capture such banality becomes a metaphor for all human activity.

Rona Yefman's photographs are derived from the idea of the family photo album. Combinations of her photographs offer intimate stories of different characters, some real and some fictitious. Taken in a documentary or snapshot style, her photos often deal with issues of youth, sexual identity, and marginalized and eccentric personalities.

Exhibition Works

YEHUDIT SASPORTAS Untitled, 2004 ink marker on paper 61.75 x 83.75 inches (paper) 156.8 x 212.7 cm LM7896


DORON SOLOMONS Lullaby, 1998 dimensions variable Edition of 10 LM7905


ELIEZER SONNENSCHEIN Emet, 2003 acrylic on wood 15.75 x 23.62 inches 40 x 60 cm LM7902


SHARON YA'ARI Fundamental L, 2004 black and white photograph 41.73 x 44.49 inches 106 x 113 cm Edition of 6 LM7918


RONA YEFMAN Sigalit on the Beach, 2001 ink jet print or color photograph 39.37 x 59.06 inches 100 x 150 cm Edition of 3 LM7915


SHARON YA'ARI Fundamental H, 2004 black and white photograph 41.73 x 44.49 inches 106 x 113 cm Edition of 6 LM7917


RONA YEFMAN Girls with Groucho Marx Masks, 2000 color photograph 23.62 x 31.5 inches 60 x 80 cm Edition of 6 LM7912


RONA YEFMAN Ivan, 2001 lambda print 31.5 x 23.62 inches 80 x 60 cm Edition of 6 LM7909


YEHUDIT SASPORTAS Untitled, 2004 ink marker on paper 61.75 x 83.75 inches (paper) 156.8 x 212.7 cm LM7897


ELIEZER SONNENSCHEIN Untitled, 2004 acrylic on wood 15 x 36.5 x 3.5 inches 38.1 x 92.7 x 8.9 cm LM7901


ELIEZER SONNENSCHEIN Untitled, 2004 acrylic on wood 15.75 x 49.5 x 3.5 inches 40 x 125.7 x 8.9 cm LM7899