2016 Dive In… To Get Inside - Jerusalem Online > Read Online
Dive deeply into your soul, surrender to passing time, to changes in temperature and lighting, to focus on the only thing that remains permanent. Multidisciplinary artist Tal Eshed, now launching a new exhibition in New York City, invites you to connect to yourselves as much as possible.
More than anything, Tal Eshed prefers that you try for a moment to connect with your inner self, to the Universe within. As she prepares for her second solo exhibition at the Tanja Grunert Gallery, the shocking Israeli artist would like you to stop for a moment to think, to look at your environment from outside inwards, and then back again from the inside to the outside. She invites everyone to listen attentively: “This is an invitation to us humans to become more aware of what we all share with one another rather than what separates us from each other. What we all experience in the core of existence, in the very essence of our being, the place that connects us all to the heart, to feelings, emotions, energies in motion, is a direct connection to the source of light
Eshed’s exhibition opening Thursday, May 5 (through June 4) integrates video, installation and performance. The artist states: “Diving in means diving in to our own ‘skin,’ into our world of feelings, perceptions, and thoughts. Diving in… gives the opportunity to accept what is within us as a whole – shadows and lights – in a constant search for harmonious flow. Diving in…is being able to surrender and let go of the mind’s actions to find oneness with the magical creation of life – being alive, the way to be, to observe, to watch, to become one, breathing in the wisdom of the universe, breathing out, giving back to Mother Earth our wisdom, and offering something in exchange. Diving in…to the depths of the “unknown” structure, the Divine creation in each one of us, the energy which has no limits in time or space.”
In practice, Eshed is going deeper in how she addresses one her favorite theme: water. It may be that Eshed’s fate was determined on the day she was named. Tal means “morning dew,” and Eshed means “waterfall”. Water is the strongest element in her video “Sunrise Transformation,” depicting a figure seated in the Lotus position against the backdrop of the rising sun. As the film progresses, everything changes – lighting, temperature, daytime hours, with only the ‘now’ remaining constant.
This is Eshed’s first performance in a New York Gallery. Visitors are invited to join her in a meditation researching the a-temporal present. The figure is faceless and genderless, an entity without a body. The artist beckons the audience to observe her meditating and see the Eternal in her as it exists in the present. Visitors are invited to put on a flesh-colored bodysuit and actively participate in the meditation/performance. But viewers can participate not only by meditating but by deep contemplation of the illuminated sculptural objects surrounding them. Inspired by the artist and the meditation practice, each object in the exhibition offers up a reflection to the viewer for reflecting on infinite space as well as on the place of the viewer’s self.
Tal Eshed is a multidisciplinary artist who divides her time between her birthplace of Tel Aviv and New York City, engaging in photography, video and sound to create mixed media installations and illuminated sculptural objects. She has exhibited in numerous one-person shows and participated in numerous group exhibitions and festivals around the world. The essential nature of her works formulates the artist’s role as a creator imitating and inspired by the Divine Creator. This is the principle at the very heart of Tal Eshed’s artworks.
Her works are in private and public collections, while one of her videos describing her creative process is currently on view this month as part of the Tiroche DeLeon Collection on view at Serge Tiroche’s StArt Gallery in Old Jaffa.
© Artwork by Tal Eshed all rights reserved