HEROES-Eran Shakine

HEROES ERAN SHAKINE

MANA

C O N T E M P O R A RY

HEROES ERAN SHAKINE

HEROES Eran Shakine

As if grown nearly fully formed fresh out of the soil, Eran Shakine’s iconic figures stand on uncertain

Van Gogh and Gauguin, recurring partners in Shakine’s repertoire, whether drawn or sculpted,

wobbly legs looking much as if they might be reabsorbed into the earth.

continue to be the subject of endless speculation for him: Van Gogh’s relationship with Gauguin, feelings of insecurity, a romantic bond, a broken one, a psychosis? In one of the sculptures Shakine

The seven new sculptures here are all black, all hard-shelled cast aluminium and bronze, but they

rendered the two artists as physically connected. With information derived from research, from

show their clay origins, the hand marks of their creator, in the softness and irregularities of their

Google, from historical gossip, and psychological speculation, these artists are forever linked in

surfaces. And all of the works have holes in them so you can see inside, rendering them, in effect,

Shakine’s imagination.

shells to be filled with our own perceptions. Are they both less and more than meet the eye?

Stationed among the strong, albeit enigmatic, males is Alice-a young woman standing on the floor, Shakine asks: What makes a hero? What is the nature of celebrity? Do cultural, political, intellectual,

taller than all the other heroes. For Shakine, she “speaks of the position of women in society.” She

and artistic figures have qualities in common? Is there something about them, or even more,

could be part “Alice in Wonderland,” part “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” part everywoman.

something about us, that needs to makes them heroic? How are our times and culture reflected in our choice of heroes? Do we understand these icons differently from different historical perspectives?

Meanwhile, Sigmund Freud, a formidable presence here--dour, unrevealing, and not quite judgmental-holds it all together, looking less exposed than the rest.

The answer to everything is, Yes! At the same time, Shakine insists, “They are very much about now.”

Timely as well as timeless, the characters’ uniform blackness together with their underlying flirtation Standing on the floor on stainless-steel plates, the sculptures are all positioned with their back to

with abstraction absorb much of their individuality. They are repositories of our own cultural and

the center of the room facing the empty white wall, as if partaking of a Tibetan meditation. “What

individual imaginations and expectations, just as they create them. But they distinguish themselves

are they looking at?” Shakine leaves us to wonder. Are they inviting us to join the circle? “You can’t

most by their forthright open-endedness and willingness to entertain all questions and answers.

control what people see,” he observes. But in perceiving the figures this way, we can be drawn into their group, forced to see them as they see us.

Shakine’s “heroes” partake of the present, the art historical, and the fictive. Ultimately, all of the figures are at once representations of and inquiries into how we define the world itself as well as

These are specific individuals who attain universality in the tentativeness of existence. Shakine is

what it means to be a hero.

not interested so much in their individual personalities as he is in “what the person means in our culture.”

Cocky characters are rendered as vulnerable. Here is Mick Jagger emerging from a quick sculptural

Barbara MacAdam

sketch; Jackie Kennedy is portrayed soft, stripped of her impenetrable veneer; Picasso is a figure of

Co-Executive Editor

bravado, his clothing patched together but his stance well-balanced.

ARTnews Magazine

Pablo Picasso, 2015, bronze with polished black patina and stainless steel, h 65 in.

Alice, 2015, bronze with polished black patina and stainless steel, h 79 in.

Mick, 2015, self dry clay and stainless steel, 20x7 x 5 in.

Van Gogh and Gauguin, 2015, bronze and polished black patina, stainless steel, 71 x 38 x 33 in.

Mick, 2015, aluminum and polished black patina, 72 x 27 x 20 in.

Jackie O, 2015, aluminum and polished black patina, 77 x 29 x 24 in.

Sigmund Freud, 2015, bronze with polished black patina and stainless steel, h 69 in.

Born in Tel Aviv, 1962 Studied art at Wizo Art School, Tel Aviv 1987-1992 Lived in New York, assistant to artist Karl Appel Selected Solo Exhibitions

Public Sculptures and Permanent Installations

2015 “Heroes‫ ״‬MANA Contemporary, New Jersey

Museum Tower Plaza, Tel Aviv

The best of Eran Shakine, XXI gallery, Geneva

Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv

2014

Graffitigirl, Zemack Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv Artists House

2013

Art for Sale/Sail, Special project for fashion night TLV

Ashdod Park

2012

Sunny Side Up, Zemack Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv

Gan HaTzuk, Netanya

2011

Good help is hard to find..., Zemack

The College of Management, Rishon LeZion

Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv

Gan Kineret, Kfar Saba

2010

Catwalk, Gallery 39, Tel Aviv

Minimal contradictions, TWIG Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

Grants and Scholarships

2009

Don’t worry, Julie M. Gallery, Toronto

1995 Artist in residence, Cité

2008

Sabbath Match, Gallery 39, Tel Aviv

Internationale des Arts, Paris

2007

The Artist Who did not Look Back, Gallery 39, Tel Aviv

1989-90 Arts Matters, New York

2003

Domestic, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art

2000-02 Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv

Public Collections

1997

New Sculptures, Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan

The British Museum, London

1995

Pools, Artists House, Jerusalem

Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany

1990

Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

1989

Selected 43, The Drawing Center, New York

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

1987

Givon Fine Arts Gallery, Tel Aviv

Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art The Open Air Museum, Tefen Ein Harod Museum

Art Miami (upcoming), Art Toronto

Art Stage Singapore, Art Central HK, Art Mrkt San

Selected Bibliography

Francisco, Art Miami NYC (Downtown), Art15 London

Barbara A. MacAdam, ARTnews,

Art Stage Singapore, Pulse New York, Art Mrkt San

Nuit Banai, Artforum International Magazine

Francisco, Fresh Paint 7, Tel Aviv, Art Toronto

Aviva Lori, Haaretz Magazine

2014

Art Miami

2013

Pulse Art Fair Miami

Books

2012

Puls Art Fair NYC, Shanghai Contemporary,

“Sunny Side Up” Hirmer 2011

Art Platform Los Angeles,

Art Toronto, Art Miami, with Zemack Gallery

2012

“We have a champion!” Eretz Israel Museum, Tel aviv

2011

Pulse Art Fair, LA and Miami, with Zemack Gallery

2010

Art Brussels, with TWIG Gallery

2009

Timebuoy, The Tel Aviv Biennial, Art TLV

2008

Van Gogh in Tel Aviv, Rubin Museum, Tel Aviv

2005

On the Banks of the Yarkon, Tel Aviv Museum of Art

2000

The Vera, Silvia and Arturo Schwarz Collection,

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

1999

Drawing: New Acquisitions,

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

1994

Contemporary Art Meeting, Tel Hai 94, Israel

Israeli Sculpture 1948-1998, The Open Museum, Tefen

1984

Noemi Givon Gallery, Tel Aviv

Roitman design

Selected Group Exhibitions 2015

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