Sharon Ya’ari: Positive Images for Field and Forest

The solo show of the Israeli artist Sharon Ya’ari at the biggest museum of modern and contemporary art in Lithuania—the National Gallery of Art—is organized as an important artistic event bridging the Lithuanian and Israeli contemporary cultural scenes.

The photographer Sharon Ya’ari (b. 1966) is a prominent figure in the contemporary art scene of Israel. The major solo show that took place at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2013, previous shows at the Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, the Lisson Gallery, London and other shows at significant venues in Europe and the United States highlighted the originality of the artistic work done by this contemporary artist. Sharon Ya’ari’s large-format images represents a complex and multilayered cultural research of places and time, and it challenges the possibilities of the photographic medium itself. In a highly individual and sophisticated visual language the artist deals with the notions of space, place and the void that emerges with time between the first two categories. The selection of photographs for the Vilnius show includes images produced from 2000 to 2015, altogether 72 large and medium scale photos. The exhibition also features new works from the “Red Slide” series (2015) produced specially for the Vilnius exhibition. The show is curated by NGA photography curator Ieva Mazuraite-Novickiene. After the solo show at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art it is the second presentation of the artist’s works in this scope and the most comprehensive one in Europe.

The photography exhibition is accompanied by the public programme of Israeli video art The Floodgates Within: Video Art from Israel, curated by Chen Tamir, Curator at the Center for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv. The programme is comprised of two presentations of video from Israel including films by Yael Bartana, Guy Ben Ner, Nir Evron and others.

The catalogue of the show is comprised of 72 pages and includes the introduction text by the curator Ieva Mazūraitė-Novickienė and comprehensive interview with Sharon Yaari done by Israeli art cirtic and historian of photography Vered Maimon.

The goal of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) is to collect and research Lithuanian art of the 20th and 21st Century and present it to Lithuanian and international audiences as a part of the international modern art culture. NGA’s aim is to broaden the view of its audiences, reveal the links between Lithuanian art and art in other countries, encourage new interpretations of Lithuanian art, and develop a culture of understanding visual arts.

With the support of
Embassy of Israel in Vilnius, Lithuania, Artis Grant Programs, Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, Lithuanian Council for Culture, Good Will Foundation, Jewish Community of Lithuania, Ukraine International Airlines, Exterus, AD REM TRANSPORT Movers