Works by Yael Ben Simon and Elise Thompson
Curated by Sammy Bennett
Bob’s Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
October 13th – November 5th, 2022
Exhibition Statement:
| “I think I carry it well” – Salem the Cat Practical Magic sets the stage for a two-part concealing and revealing act by artists Elise Thompson and Yael Ben-Simon. Thompson pulls the rabbit out of the hat while Ben Simon cuts tradition in half. Both paint windows into other worlds that slip in and out of reality. Like any great magician, both of these artists dissolve our certainty that there’s a trick at play, and suggest that forces of true mysticism are at work. Venture into Thompson’s timeless portals through an unknown space of eternity. By layering thick crusted paint over top of translucent vinyl, Thompson conjures openings that beckon or deny our entrance, lucid gateways into unknown spaces, where horizon lines melt into skylines. Are we peering out of a window on a cloudy night or standing on the rim of a planet lit by the moon? Viewing the layers of clarity and opacity places us on one side or another of a veil. The texture and color on either side coax us close to gauge what is within our side of the looking glass. With similar seduction, Ben-Simon’s paintings play with flatness and form in clever, mysterious trompe-l’oeils. The painter culls coveted images from history and places them into new relationships. A country’s flag is casually draped across a pink ring. Broken statues sink to the bottom of the ocean while others are drowned in drapery. She foils sharply rendered items (cloth, busts, rope) with other things rendered in graphic simplicity (fists, balloons, beach balls). In the interplay between depthful shadow and shallow flat spaces, the objects and their symbolic value teeter and fall out towards the viewer. But with an illusionist’s flare, Ben-Simon freezes the moment just before the object crashes down onto the floor. A show of rectangular wall work may prime viewers for the familiar, but with your guard lowered Thompson and Ben-Simon perform feats that acknowledge yet ignore the confines of gravity and two-dimensional space. In these environments rules are set but not obeyed. Sammy Bennett, October 2023 |
Documentation by Flaneurshan.studio
