Tobia Rava'
dal 12/3/2014 al 30/5/2014
Segnalato da
12/3/2014
Tobia Rava'
Ermanno Tedeschi Gallery, Tel Aviv
Transcendental Codes. His recent works seal a particular union between technical ability and content, as well as providing an extension to his particular language and viewpoint.
Since 1998, and after having experimented with various creative forms to highlight the relationship between art and science, the Italian artist TOBIA RAVA' has been researching mystic elements in Judaism, the Kabbalah and Hassidism. Rava' offers a new symbolic approach through the infinite possibilities of combinations of numbers and letters. His research should in no way be seen as a reduction of mystic to mystery or esotericism but instead as a visualization of a deep awareness that mystical theology, which according to Plato's definition, is the original and authentic meaning of wisdom and knowledge on the universal level.
The works of art that will be exhibited in the exhibition include painting of Mediterranean-style architectural objects, works on mirrors and aluminum depicting woods and vortices, and bronze and resin sculptures of plants, and animals based on a historical-philosophical logic or path or on simple mental associations. Both compositions in Rava's work, the architectural and the naturalistic, are closely linked to the cultural context of the Veneto region in Italy, where the artist is from. All the works are covered by a dense "blanket" of numbers and expressions that are at the root of Hebrew culture and that reexamine between man and his surroundings through simple visual conversion of Gematria (Hebrew numerology).
The artist's most recent works, which adopt the age-old technique of cire perdue (the lost wax method of bronze casting), seal a particular union between technical ability and content, as well as providing an extension to his particular language and viewpoint. From the reflection of his aluminum sufaces, a direct interaction between the audience and the creation is established. One can "reflect" through it and even totally immerse oneself. The artist's most recent works reveal archetypal elements of Hebrew culture and are based on alpha-numerical sequences referring to a universal cosmological language; by way of the basic concepts of the Kabbalah (“tradition” and “reception” in the mystical context of Hebrew thought) we may follow an ethical-philosophical path as conceived by Itzachq Luria: a pathway both ancient and modern, allowing for a new ethical interpretation of action in the contemporary world. Starting with scholars of mystical theology, he considers various key words of our language whose innermost meanings are often no longer perceived, known or understood. By illustrating their use in the mystic tradition he gives us the chance to undertake a personal journey of interiority, wisdom and beatitude, thus showing that mystical theology belongs to everyone, transcending different eras and cultures. Edited by Maria Luisa Trevisan and Sirio Luginbühl.
Opening: 13th March 2014, 7 p.m.
Ermanno Tedeschi Gallery
3 Lilienbloom, Neve Tzedek - Tel Aviv Israele
Sunday 15:00 – 19:00, Monday – Thursday 11:00 – 19:00, Friday 11:00 – 14:00