New Works – Paintings

From the exhibition catalog.
Mira Hermoni conversing with the exhibition curator on her inspirations for her paintings, which seem to have been construed by a world that no longer exists:

“. . . It’s true that what I have in my head are pictures which are nourished by a literary world which no longer exists and a cultural world which has passed away: the books of Stefan Zweig or Thomas Mann, for instance. My paintings could perhaps serve as theatrical settings for their works, or for “See Under: Love” or “Story of Love and Darkness”, if we’re talking about Hebrew literature … When I thought about Amos Oz’s description of Zelda, her ascetic way of life, I came out with a table with an empty flowerpot on it. I say “I came out with” because I don’t make any sketches. My pictures aren’t planned. My suitcases could easily be the suitcases of Momi’s grandfather in “See Under: Love” or a suitcase of memories.
. . . I work with parts of paintings I have in my head. Sometimes they conflict with one another, and then one of them has to wait its turn in the next picture. The memories are perhaps from my subconscious, for I was born in this country, a child of formica, and the heavy furniture isn’t part of my childhood but something I’m not really aware of. The little girls, for example, are figures I’ve never known, they’re not me. In my case, the ribbon was in the center of my head and not at the side, but this little girl exists to such a degree that she has become part of me. It’s very important to me to have openings leading out of the picture or to have a little light falling on the heavy furniture or to sometimes have a door opening onto somewhere.”