Twenty of Seventy

The varied works of Zvi Tolkovsky make for a fascinating journey. As an eternal student and collector, Tolkovsky often examines new techniques and materials. He defines a few of his works not as works of art, but as the result of new experiences. This exhibition comprises seven groups of works made over more than two decades and makes a fascinating assemblage made of, amongst other materials, paint, tempera, various metals, and paper, in both two dimensions and in three.

“It is impossible to include everything, but also impossible to ignore it” (Noel Nafa) – this statement best exemplifies Tolkovsky’s work. It is anchored in his desire to collect. His living space is strewn with objects and souvenirs he has collected. His work can be understood through its deconstruction and the analysis of each part, and it can also be understood through the whole. In principle his work is a collage: even when he is painting, or working in a single material, the result is the assembly of essentially different parts. This is the “Tolkovskyite language” that will forever be a patchwork of the illogical combinations and seemingly cultural traces, holding onto each other in a wonderful composition.