adam sher | painter // paintings // shows // about // press // contact |
toy story
"In a reality in which everyone is busy with their daily needs, toys express an alternative world. They're a window to the past, a mixture between reality and imagination.
Adam Sher uses dolls with brand value, taken from popular culture. They are a symbol of a capitalistic consumer society, manifesting a powerful marketing system. He confirms the important role of advertisement - socially, culturally and financially.
The dolls function as a visual reality of familiar lovable kitsch. Their importance however is not just in they're aesthetic value or in they're use in play. They are used as means of developing social behavior.
Sher's toy paintings deal with the complex relationship between an industrial product, the serial unity of a production line doll, and an artistic action, unique in its manner and representation. Mass production toys are made of plastic. Sher manages to convey the materialism of the plastic in an admirable way. He examines the undefined boundaries between a sculpture and a toy, creating images of dolls with sculptural materialistic quality. His dolls are colorful and optimistic, painted on a flat background, looking lively and realistic.
Sher creates a zoom-in effect on dolls only a few inches high. The micro becomes macro, creating a hypnotic effect on the viewer. Focusing on the image of the doll continues the tradition of post modern photography, influenced by the work of the photographer David Leventhal. Like Leventhal in his work "Hitler moves east"(1975-1977), Sher focuses on the image of the doll creating a sense of power.
The subject of dolls has been examined in Israeli art for generations. Sher's interpretation is similar to that of the 60's, where dolls symbolize a return to the purity and innocence of childhood. Sher believes in the use of dolls as a first tool for creating a connection between a child and his surroundings.The doll is a three dimensional representation of living creatures; a mould imitating a physical reality. The child is attracted to the doll because he grasps it as a living being, and so does Sher. Playing with dolls allows the children to create an alternative world where everything is possible. In it they can process real life experiences and deal with they're emotions. The well known dolls attain a different meaning in the adult eye. The adult projects his feelings and perceptions on what used to be a banal familiar object, examining it in a new way. The doll becomes less naïve and trivial than it was for us as children; seeing its' flaws, we understand that it is no longer perfect."
| // Galit Semel, Curator |
| back |