Hanoteret | Tomer Sapir
17.3.2017 – 22.4.2017
Gabirol Gallery presents a site-specific solo exhibition that turn to the space of the gallery as his point of departure, using different practices and modes of operation. The exhibition resonates and sheds light on the structure called “a gallery,” and on all that it can be, if only for a moment.
Hanoteret is a site-specific sculptural installation that takes place in two adjacent spaces at Gabirol Gallery. “Notar” (“the flesh that remains”) is the sacrifice that was not fully eaten or sacrificed at the altar on the day of the ritual. The Notar has to be burnt, and must not be consumed or sacrificed. Whoever eats it deliberately is punished, and those who eat it unwittingly – have to atone for their transgression with a sacrifice.
Tomer Sapir creates a space that holds leftovers and residues of a ritual that may have taken place, an environment that is in part a sacred place centered around an altar, and in part a torture contraption. The installation is comprised of several elements: a stratified sheet of skin-like layers that undergoes a process of stretching/crucifixion, a carcass laid at the center of a stone circle, ritualistic artifacts, bones of animals, and a permanent twilight emanating through the windows covered with stained glass of sorts.
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Tomer Sapir was born 1977, and lives and works in Tel Aviv. He received his MFA (cum laude) from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. He was awarded many prizes and grants, including the Young Artist Award by The Israeli Ministry of Culture (2012), a grant from Artis (2013), a grant from Outset Israel (2014) and a grant from The Pais Council for Culture and Art (2016). His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries in Israel and abroad, among them are The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Bass Museum in Miami, Apexart, NYC, Haifa Museum of Art, Herzliya Museum, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Beit Hankin Museum, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University, Künstlerhaus Speckstraße and Kutscherhäuser, Hamburg and Kunstverein KunstHaus Potsdam e. V., Potsdam.
