Opening: June 21 2024, 7 pm
On View: June 22 – July 07
In March 2019, artist Gabi Kricheli met his good friend Peach Slabosky for a documented conversation. Slabosky, a well-established and important Israeli artist, was hospitalized in the French hospice located a few meters from the old city of Jerusalem, waiting to die from cancer. They talked about life, pain, and fear, about the meaning of art and everyday things. Slabosky died a few days later. That conversation is the main element in the installation “Room 235: I Don’t Know If You Understand Me Correctly.”
Kricheli will work in the space for about a week and build a site-specific installation that will host the sound of a unique human at the gate of death. Darkness had covered the Middle East since the conversation took place, and death is all around. Kricheli’s work is an attempt to reach a common diameter between people that can transcend the political into a human experience. A call for hope.
Gabi Kricheli, born in 1979, is an accomplished Israeli artist based in Tel Aviv. With a B.F.A. from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Kricheli’s multidisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, installation, music, and set design for fringe theater and dance. His work is characterized by its conceptual depth and material diversity, often using elements like ceramic, concrete, and organic materials to create powerful, immersive installations.
Kricheli’s art is known for its manual, labor-intensive processes that engage viewers with their immediate and visceral impact. Conceptually, his works are subversive, employing humor and deceit to challenge perceptions and illuminate social and political issues. This unique approach can be seen in his notable projects like the “Promise Trilogy,” which was exhibited in various locations across Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Throughout his career, Kricheli has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally, including at the Gropius Bau Berlin and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His contributions to the arts have been recognized with several awards, such as the Israel Ministry of Culture Prize for a Young Artist and grants from the N.Y.C-based Asylum Art Foundation.
