Paintings

Ben Or’s work derives from the tradition and history of painting. Her relationship with that tradition is one of acceptance as well as rejection. In instances of “consciousness” the painting abides rules and dogmas, however, while “comatose” it is liberated from the constraints of “reason” and enabled to produce “monsters,” that are in fact the magical instances of the painting, its focal points. Painting at the site of a struggle between “consciousness” and “sleep” is one that enjoys a minded sense of restraint alongside a sense of freedom, daring, spontaneity and the presence of the unknown.

Anne Ben-Or’s new exhibition is dedicated to paintings depicting group scenes, mainly the artist’s family members. The paintings express the duality of “monstrous” and “reasonable” nuclei.