Fe de Errata
Agripas 12 gallery,
curator: Tamar Gispan-Greenberg
Alejandra Okret: Fe de Erratas [*]
Alejandra Okret’s exhibition at the Agripas 12 Gallery, Jerusalem, highlights issues of personal choice and potential amendment, of one's being in control vs. the randomness of life and matter. The name of the exhibition, Errata, refers to the list of corrections found at the end of books, if misprints and mistakes were discovered after the books were printed.
Words are consistently present throughout Okret’s oeuvre, whether as a source of inspiration, in the literal sense, or physically. They express the mood of the artist’s current creation, functioning as a lifeline, or rather a vine for grasping, like Tarzan, swinging through the tangles of the jungle.
The gallery's front room presents paintings created in 2015 – a series of fragments or comments – pages of errata. Okret’s image surfaces from amidst the fragments as self-portraits – with some reflecting a true likeness and others more symbolic. All the figures are suspended in motion like the woman holding a rope and swaying like a pendulum. The image of a dragon appears whimsically, presenting itself as a dominant feature in the central space of the gallery.
For the artist, the image of the dragon is one of power, movement and creativity. It builds momentum, surprising us, toppling the cards of our life; perhaps bringing with it a refreshing, rejuvenating gust of wind.
Japanese art and culture are one of the key sources of inspiration for Okret, an interest that was sparked during her childhood. Okret chooses to let go of her unconditional control as an artist, and allows the water, pigments and Japanese ink to shape themselves at random upon the paper, moving with the flow. The outcome is not absolute. The paper absorbs the colors and reacts to them. Okret's depiction of the dragon focuses on its numerous scales. It seems that the act of drawing carries a mantric, meditative quality for the artist. She wishes to follow and explore the fascinating shapes and textures of the dragon’s scales, and gain a deeper understanding of its powers and complexities.
Tamar Gispan-Greenberg
December 2015
[*] - A mistake done in good faith (Errata)
