Avner Ben Gal

Austere landscapes with burning houses and isolated figures appear in the paintings and drawings by Israeli artist Avner Ben-Gal (*1966). They allude to narratives that are completely unlike the visual worlds of propaganda about the Middle East disseminated through mass media. Instead, Ben-Gal's narratives create their own reality regarding recent history and, at the same time, spread before us a poetic, imaginative cosmos. The gloomy tone underpinning his frequently mythological or allegorical images corresponds to a subtle reflection upon the means of painting, so that, for instance, his dreamlike scenes literally withdraw from view behind monochromatic veils that cover the image or even make it disappear.nnAfter being seen in many international group exhibitions, Ben-Gal's work is now the focus of this publication, which accompanies his first solo show. It includes works from recent years, as well as his latest paintings.nnExhibition: Kunstmuseum Basel, Museum f?r Gegenwartskunst January 18-May 4, 2008