Preservative

Solo at Rothschild
a space for solo exhibitions, created by the Edmond de Rothschild Center especially for members of the Edmond de Rothschild Center network. Its purpose is to foster the development of new projects and facilitate the production of existing works by providing curatorial guidance and encouraging group thinking processes.
The current series of exhibitions seeks to address the concepts monologue/dialogue – on their own and the tension between them – in a way that invites a broadening of their meanings, as an observation of two types of discourse whose main purpose is communication of a message, a position, or an opinion.

Monologue/Dialogue
Four solo exhibitions at the Edmond de Rothschild Center, floor1-

May-November 2024
Participants: Olga Stadniuk, Mor Peled, Tom Maor, Ronel Pines
Curators: Nofar Cohen, Rotem Kaplan, Reut Kremer Segal, Sofia Paks

Third Exhibition on Monologue/Dialogue

Tom Maor | Preservative
Curator: Reut Kremer Segal

A creator’s first contact with material unleashes a flood of feelings and thoughts that mark the limits of the creative space. With every subsequent interaction, the need arises anew to find the balance between familiar technique, systematic practice, and control of the material and self-expression. Lingering along the axis of this perpetual quest tightens the bond with the material, intensifying the pull to continue to create.

The exhibition Preservative presents the concrete and artistic dialogue between creator and clay while concurrently drawing attention to the shared element that connects them. Tom shows the storm of emotions accompanying creation, the dominance of the clay, and the importance of the physical contact and working with the hands as a tool for raw and meaningful expression. Through it Tom pursues handcraft’s preservative effect in a period where creative processes are fast yielding ground to artificial intelligence and technology.

The gallery space refers to the three components: clay, in its raw form, which maintains its dominance in its reception of energized palms; water, without form, but powerful in its effect on blurring the dichotomy between body and clay and creating a new power relationship; and creator, revealed in the sculptures of working hands that freeze the various stages of the creative process. Three materials in three different scenes showing the array of power relations between clay, water, and body.

The video work shows the Sisyphean process, which begins with a block of clay and ends with a visual product that expresses endless interpretations and points of view. Revealing the process offers yet another look at the enduring three-way dialogue, wherein the creative process and the inherent experience are equal in measure to the product.

In an era in which basic assumptions about art are being challenged, Tom turns attention back to the creative hands. He challenges abstract technological thinking and makes the primal material manifest. In so doing, he seeks after the preservative effect of the passion of discovery that is intrinsic to the relationship between a creator and material.