Furl & Unfurl
Quartet exhibition with Anna Epstein, Katya Oicherman, Dorit Ringrant
curator Ora Kraus
November 2010 - March 2011
Municipal Gallery Rehovot
Alejandra Okret creates works of art with tracing paper. The abstract forms are sometimes constructed from the tones of monochromatic surfaces. As well as painting, the artist builds objects from layers or rolls of tracing paper. The rolls of tracing paper are sometimes positioned inside sealed Perspex boxes which stand up, protecting their hidden secret.
Okret's work deal with a spiritual and kabalistic plan expressed in a minimalistic language. In this way her work reminds one of the Far East artists, desiring to express a communion with nature. The action of painting turns into a spiritual exercise, in which the artist becomes submerged into contemplation of his inner soul and expects to reach enlightenment at the end. Likewise Okret compares the different level of zenith to moments of the Creation, which she calls "moments of holiness", "moments of existence". Paralleling her feelings, her creations are usually quiet, minimalistic and harmonious.
The corporeality of the tracing paper is prominent in Okret's work, its tendency to reject the watery paint, expanding it, distorting it and giving it volume. At the end of the process the flat smooth and slippery is transformed into a textured, inflated, and blown up image. In the artist's creations components and shapes of circular form are prominent, parallel to linear ones. According to the kabala, the circle is concealed inside the Hebrew letter "samech" "ס". Everything is equal inside the circle, representing man becoming elevated by coming close to himself from a personal choice to instigate a change in his life. To round things means to loosen our thoughts and quite our "internal voice while setting in motion our hands. Like a stone thrown to quiet waters causing concentric waves in its course expanding from the epicenter, in the same way the circular movements of the hand create vibration in the body. Similarly, the process of creation is also without beginning, middle or end. The meaning of the circle is wholeness, completeness, serenity and movement. It represents a soft and furling doing, a primary action, basic, simple and truthful. It seems that this component reflects the spiritual foundation of Okret's work.
Ora Kraus