Ehud Schori
Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW tendency towards abstraction find their balance in your work?
From my earliest works, I have been making images that exist somewhere between abstraction and representation, as those terms are normally understood. For me, all visual images are abstract and representative at the same time. They all employ abstract cues and signs to signal meanings, and these symbols work together to form some representation, of human experience or more tangible matter. I’ ve never been able to look at an abstract image without finding some association for it. Our brains are hardwired to find patterns and meaning through abstract visual information, in the form of color, shape, scale, mass, line, density, tonality, and so forth. In terms of my work, I like to bring a piece to the point at which it presents a tension of ambiguity: of uncertain identification along the continuum between abstraction and representation, and of the possibility of it to be perpetually changing.
So far in your career you have had seven solo shows and you have exhibited your works in many group exhibitions, including your recent participation in Visual Inquiries, at Pace University, New
York. One of the hallmarks of your work is its capability to capture the attention of viewers, who are urged to become involved beyond mere spectatorship. Before leaving this conversation, we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?
While I make my work, I think about the possible reception of the audience, to the extent that I can imagine it. I certainly want the work to be available to be received by the broadest audience of any given context. But the audience for the work does affect how I make the work. For example, my public art works, like Perpetual Nature, are meant to be seen by a broad crosssection of the urban population from a distance and while moving, while my drawings are intended for a more intimate viewing experience. I adjust my visual language accordingly. Also, with my site-specific drawing installations, I consider the works in relation to not only the viewers’ eyes but also their bodies, since the works function as perceptual events in particular spaces.