The work of Adi Fluman (*1987 Rishon LeTsiyon; lives and works in Tel Aviv) probes the encounter between manual and computerized techniques, between images and objects, between what is found and what is created. In this exhibition, titled “Souvenir d’amitié” the artist presents a new body of works that continues her exploration of the boundaries between representation and reality. At first glance, her works appear to be three-dimensional, but in fact they are flat prints created through the manual and Sisyphean digital “weaving” of tens of thousands of pints that the artist connects to one another through 3D modeling computer software. This meticulous method she uses to create her “digital trompe l’oeil,” triggers the curiosity of the viewer, who often indulges in lengthy viewing sessions. In sheer contrast with the fast pace usually devoted to today’s consumption of images, especially digital images, Fluman’s work creates moments of disorienting contemplation.

The works presented in the exhibition deal with the power of material objects and their capability to convey what appears to be immaterial. The starting point of this exhibition is an object found by the artist in the collection of the RISD Museum: a small wallet from the 18th century made in France by an unidentified woman for her husband as a symbol of their marital love, a customary habit of the time. Inspired by the idea of small objects carrying personal and universal feelings, often created through laborious and time-consuming crafts and artisanal techniques, Fluman appropriated images of such kind of belongings, which are charged with supposedly intangible values, such as love, intimacy and affection.

Through the employment of her signature technique, the artist implements a series of actions on these objects – from enlargement to decontextualization, from fragmentation to dimensional transition. The latter action transforms these objects from three-dimensional, rare and collectable items into works of contemporary art consisting of bi-dimensional appropriated images, which are printed and showcased in artist frames, often echoing, through their materials, the texture of the image. These actions modify the original purpose of the objects, generating a nuanced sense of uncanny familiarity so that they shift from being personal effects in order to become publicly-displayed, embodiments of anonymous affects.

“Adi Fluman: Souvenir d’amitié” is curated by Nicola Trezzi and Bar Goren.

The exhibition is accompanied by printed matter in Hebrew, Arabic and English, an artist talk on August 27, a conversation between the artist and Goren in Hebrew on September 3, and a Zoom conversation between the artist and Trezzi in English on September 24.

“Adi Fluman: Souvenir d’amitié” is part of a collaboration between three institutions in Israel – CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo, the Negev Museum of Art in Be'er Sheva and the Bar David Museum for Art and Judaica in Kibbutz Bar'am – and it is supported by Outset Contemporary Art Fund and Dvir Gallery Tel Aviv / Brussels.

Following the exhibition, a monograph with content in Hebrew, Arabic and English was published – a collaboration between CCA, the Negev Museum of Art and the Bar David Museum for Art and Judaica.

Images

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“Adi Fluman: Souvenir d’amitié,” 2020

View of the exhibition at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo

Photo: Tal Nissim

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Puissions nous les imiter, 2020, from the series “Souvenir d’amitié”

Digital sculpture, inkjet printed on paper in artist’s frame (oak wood), 62.8 × 92.8 × 8 cm

Collection of Nurith Jaglom; courtesy of the artist and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv / Brussels

Photo: Tal Nissim