Autumn Mysteries

This exhibition can be regarded as a continuation of my Retrospective Miniature Exhibition at the Artists’ House in Jerusalem (2010).  From the myriad of miniatures, painted on paper (in water colors and oils) from 1999-2009 and which were shown at the exhibition, I dedicated a wall to ten small, square pictures painted in oil on canvas.  I began painting in this manner several months before the opening of the exhibition, and have continued since. These works are a combination of both my larger works in oil and my miniature paintings in water color.  The bold splash of color is characteristic of my previous large oil paintings while the transparent strokes, with the addition of tiny etched details made with a thin brush.  is reminiscent of the water colors.  In these semi-realistic paintings, as in my water colors, I was not satisfied with amorphous splashes of color but felt compelled to add lines of color creating a connection between these works, whose source is found in the depths of the soul, to an external reality.  While observing of the paintings as a group, when either arranged horizontally or vertically, I realized that the seasons of the year was the common denominator - thus appearing to be a continuation of the series of water color miniatures on this subject which I had painted two years prior.  The title of the current exhibition refers to the main work – “Autumn Mysteries” -- and consists of forty different pictures, separately and together representing autumn in all its aspects. Autumn often raises, in the western cultural collective unconscious, associations of romantic sadness, often to the point of depression and sorrow.  Expressions such as “the autumn of my years” relate to the fading and receding autumn and represent the end of the road for the aging person.  This possibly stems from prehistoric man’s difficulty to see the trees that remained barren throughout the entire winter, and concern that they would forever remain like this and cause his end.  This primeval  fear translates, even today, into sadness and sorrow when the autumn arrives.  Not until the spring does growth renew and sorrow fade. In my eyes, autumn is a picturesque and beautiful time, but not less than the spring. Autumn is a game of light and shadow, an exciting and mysterious season replete with colorful foliage, bare, delicate branches full of gracefulness, and the pleasant  coolness our country’s air that not only hails the end of  the summer’s oppressive heat waves but announces the coming holidays and advent of the new year. In the large display, connecting many small square pictures, autumn is not presented as a landscape covering an infinite space but rather as hints of different landscapes, sections of which radically differ one from another. The emphasis is not necessarily on the characteristic colors of autumn, but in describing the essence of autumn – foliage without leaves and trees turning color.  Among the tiny images one discerns severed branches without leaves, trees hidden by night, or grass that the yellow sun has intensified its color and appears to us as a brilliant green, or, in the turning leaves the light of sunset or colorful foliage. Autumn is presented here with a multitude of shades which change according to the time and place. Many of the pieces are full of rustling colorfulness which is often far from the autumn reality, but is akin to one‘s whisperings of the heart.Gazing at the images transports the viewer from one landscape to another and from one mood to another.  The viewer is able, as he wishes, to glance and embrace the painting in general or to focus on a favorite small picture that is part of the larger work. By focusing on a small picture, the viewer is able to experience, for just a slight moment, the special mood that created it.  The sights and colors, in all their various shades, are some of the images transformed, changing into something new and not previously seen but which hints at more than an external reality.  

Liat Polotsky

The cover of the catalog