Insights / Jerusalem theater gallery

INSIGHTS

Ironwork sculptures as a materialization of introspection.

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will." - George Bernard Shaw

This quote describes Rami Ater's work process. The object is conceived as an internal visual image. At this initial stage, Ater makes rough sketches on paper and puts his thoughts into words. In the second stage, he materializes the internal, emotional image - translating his thought into a three-dimensional artwork.  

The material with which Ater chooses to work is raw industrial iron that he processes using various techniques. Processing the iron reconfigures the material, enabling its semantic transformation in terms of the object's relation to its environment  - injecting it with additional content and meanings.

In addition to employing a modern approach to smithery - combining traditional techniques with modern tools, Ater uses unique and innovative techniques, which he developed himself. These techniques allow him to specify the sculptures' texture and coloration through heat and alloying.     

The work process is an inner journey of liberation and a shift from the internal image to a tangible sculptural object. Transitioning outwards from an introspective gaze, Ater's sculptural work focuses on its intrinsic aesthetic dimension - proportions and relation to the actual space it occupies.

The exhibition displays three figurative series of works with internal meaning. All three series share a common base material - iron sheets - some flat and some curved. The texture of the material and its processing technique are intuitively decided upon, on the fly, throughout the execution stage. Work is carried out simultaneously on different sculptures. This parallelism is evident in the development of the different series, which correspond with one another - emotionally, figuratively and with regard to the color and texture of the various elements.    

About the artist:

Rami Ater, born 1960, based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Ater's passion for artistic production in general and iron sculpting in particular (which he stumbled into by chance) has been residing within him for many years. Over the years, he cooked, wrote poetry and took pictures, but these were always pursued recreationally rather than occupationally - taking a backseat to his "real" job. Although knowing, deep down, that iron sculpting is his way to self-actualization, his dream and desire to create and return to engaging with iron, waited in the background. Life's involuted chain of events - pivotal moments, jarring experiences, introspection and revelatory insights - has led him back to his roots and allowed him to reconnect with his love of iron sculpting. The reunion with this material gave birth to a very personal artistic practice that emanates from within as a figurative expression of Ater's emotional world.     

Currently, sculpture is the central activity in his life.

Along the way he has enriched his technical capabilities through learning in Rami Rudich's iron workshop, where he continues to create daily. Ater perceives iron, which is a medium full of contradictions, as most suitable for expressing his complex inner world, at times through posing a struggle and at times through accommodating a dialog.   

Ater is a member of the Israel's Professional Visual Artists Association.

Solo exhibition:

Works, Bet Gabriel, Emek HaYarden, 2013.

Group exhibitions:

Artists, Blue Bird Gallery, Petah Tikva, 2013.

Homme/Femme: l'Illusion de la réalité, Galerie Claire Corcia, Paris , 2013.

Art and Objecthood, Volvo showroom, Tel Aviv, 2013.

Home Land, R.M.P.E House, Jerusalem , 2013.

Winter Salon, Raanana City Gallery, Raanana, 2012.

Noga Arad-Ayalon, Curator