I find it important for an artist to understand the source of his art. The connection between ideas and matter builds the artistic language. In my work I play with the obvious image and its dissolved expression to create a new and sometimes unrecognized visual language. I play with and combine both familiar techniques and methods I invent.
The personal story of every individual is a chapter of the local history pages, the international, the urban, the political and the local / global zeitgeist. We are affected by our surroundings; the surrounding invades our personal space.
My surrounding is Israel, the stories I read in the newspaper, an environment torn between parties. I am both there and not there. It is a part of me but not part of who I am or part of my daily routine. I collect photos of stories from news websites on the internet, captured and written by other people, and I treat them as a representation of the world associated with me but which I never felt associated with. For the most part, I don't have a concrete experience of the torn places; I don't really know how they smell.
My artistic work is an ongoing practical study of the metamorphosis of active cultural and traditional tools of oppression in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as they shift from being functional objects to symbolic attributes. They reflect the local cultural language. Through them I map the visual representation of my civilian and human geography.
I define recognizable representations (images, objects, stories...) in order to reveal their essence. Most of the representations of the various cultures has similar appearances but they hold special meanings to each group. Through them I create, react and interpret new perspective on the impact the continuous presence of a day-to-day image has on one’s perceptions, mentality, and culture.
I am fascinated with the local visual language, as it is rooted in ancient times, but also describes the long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I relate to paradigmatic images, e.g. the “stone thrower”, "the martyr - the lamb", “settlements in conquered territories”, “the separation wall”, "myth, religion and believes representations" etc.
Usually I am working simultaneously on few works. This way I gain a lot of inspiration and it widen my understanding of the doing. Part of my studio work is listening to lectures and book reading: Philosophy, History, Mythology, Bible stories and so on...
I play with, and combine, conservative techniques with methods I invent. I tend to build installations combined of mixed materials and techniques. I collect photos associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from websites. I use my photo collection to dis-attach the stories they represent and isolate them to individual context-free icons. Through the images I map the visual representation of my civilian, traditional and human geography.
I was born in Haifa and lived in the city during different chapters of my life. My family traveled widely, and I experienced my childhood in Sinai, Sweden, Haifa and Kfar Vradim. I had worked and lived at Tel Aviv since the 90es. Currently I live and work in Berlin.
I am an independent artist and a curator. My multi-disciplinary approach toward the field of art includes, among other things, the establishment of a unique gallery format combining my knowledge and love for architecture and curating, as was manifested in the "Apart.Art" gallery (2009-2011).
From 2011 I am a member of "Alfred Gallery" group, a group of artists operating a gallery in a cooperative format in Tel Aviv.
I graduated the department of Architecture at the NB school for design, Haifa (2006), and to the age of 26 I had a contemporary dance career.
Rotem Ritov
The personal story of every individual is a chapter of the local history pages, the international, the urban, the political and the local / global zeitgeist. We are affected by our surroundings; the surrounding invades our personal space.
My surrounding is Israel, the stories I read in the newspaper, an environment torn between parties. I am both there and not there. It is a part of me but not part of who I am or part of my daily routine. I collect photos of stories from news websites on the internet, captured and written by other people, and I treat them as a representation of the world associated with me but which I never felt associated with. For the most part, I don't have a concrete experience of the torn places; I don't really know how they smell.
My artistic work is an ongoing practical study of the metamorphosis of active cultural and traditional tools of oppression in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as they shift from being functional objects to symbolic attributes. They reflect the local cultural language. Through them I map the visual representation of my civilian and human geography.
I define recognizable representations (images, objects, stories...) in order to reveal their essence. Most of the representations of the various cultures has similar appearances but they hold special meanings to each group. Through them I create, react and interpret new perspective on the impact the continuous presence of a day-to-day image has on one’s perceptions, mentality, and culture.
I am fascinated with the local visual language, as it is rooted in ancient times, but also describes the long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I relate to paradigmatic images, e.g. the “stone thrower”, "the martyr - the lamb", “settlements in conquered territories”, “the separation wall”, "myth, religion and believes representations" etc.
Usually I am working simultaneously on few works. This way I gain a lot of inspiration and it widen my understanding of the doing. Part of my studio work is listening to lectures and book reading: Philosophy, History, Mythology, Bible stories and so on...
I play with, and combine, conservative techniques with methods I invent. I tend to build installations combined of mixed materials and techniques. I collect photos associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from websites. I use my photo collection to dis-attach the stories they represent and isolate them to individual context-free icons. Through the images I map the visual representation of my civilian, traditional and human geography.
I was born in Haifa and lived in the city during different chapters of my life. My family traveled widely, and I experienced my childhood in Sinai, Sweden, Haifa and Kfar Vradim. I had worked and lived at Tel Aviv since the 90es. Currently I live and work in Berlin.
I am an independent artist and a curator. My multi-disciplinary approach toward the field of art includes, among other things, the establishment of a unique gallery format combining my knowledge and love for architecture and curating, as was manifested in the "Apart.Art" gallery (2009-2011).
From 2011 I am a member of "Alfred Gallery" group, a group of artists operating a gallery in a cooperative format in Tel Aviv.
I graduated the department of Architecture at the NB school for design, Haifa (2006), and to the age of 26 I had a contemporary dance career.
Rotem Ritov