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Uri Dushy - The Path of Art Doron Polak, Curator Few are the practicing artists possessing the broad and varied talents, ranging over manifold fields both different and complementary, such as Uri Dushy. It is difficult to find artists having such a command of painting and photography, music and composition, video art and massive industrial sculpturing. His unreserved mastery of these art forms, and moreover, his original capability of integrating them into a complete unit – result in a creative path that is both different and unique. Uri Dushy’s work does not confine itself to the limits of his private studio, but rather exits into the public realm – into open sites frequented by bypassers and members of the community who are not necessarily familiar with museums and galleries. His art is favorably accepted both in official art institutes such as galleries and art centers in which he is active, as well as in business and industrial sites, through dozens of public locations where his works are permanently displayed. The combination of styles which characterize his works, usually merging and thus naturally constructing his work process, mark his exceptional course in the labyrinth of his highly personal art. Over the past two decades Uri Dushy has been investigating the origins of art, each time experimenting anew with an unfamiliar style, new techniques and artistic creation methods foreign to him. In his personal, non-compromising way, he insists upon joining and creating within artistic genres unprecedented to him, provocatively challenging, mastering and adopting technical professional production processes. There is a considerable amount of daring – at times bordering on the naive – in the manner by which Uri Dushy copes with the nearly impossible challenges he undertakes. Perhaps in this course of his lies the key to understanding his recent success in the field of Israeli public art and the international exhibition establishments frequented by his works over the last decade. Perhaps in the brave decision he has taken upon himself, to proceed despite the difficulties, the constraints of the fashionable art scene and the possible criticism; despite all of the above he is out there doing his thing, and even succeeding. Uri Dushy leaps forward and creates at an impossible pace. Working on all mediums simultaneously, creating dozens of multidimensional paintings abundant in shapes and colors one following the other, sculpting small scale works alongside immense environmental sculptures, in addition to photographing thousands of images in and outside his private studio. Furthermore, he frequently films experimental video movies, which he then edits and turns into works of art, participating in various local and international art festivals. There is a strong element of obsession in his work, an authentic desire to create, invent, expose, display and receive reactions from an audience. The fascinating question that remains is – what is the underlying genuine motivation, what is the uncontrollable creative urge behind this remarkable outburst? In his book ‘The History of Modern Painting’, Herbert Reed specifies the characteristics of modern painting, its components and symbols. He examines the different expressionistic styles as opposed to abstract painting. According to him, the intermixture of styles and creation languages in the 20th century has led to a certain bafflement, thus making it difficult to objectively discern the ‘correct art’, the ‘real art’. On the other hand, it has enabled independent artists to determine their own course. In his essay he writes: ‘Mutual exchanges constantly occur between the real and the surreal, between the image and the concept, and there is an infinite scale of shapes dissolving until shapeless. However, we should not be mistaken to view that which lacks design as being shapeless. The distinction is between shapes that contain meaning, be it vital, magical or harmonic, and shapes that remain meaningless. Still, the question remains - to whom? This question embodies all communication problems and their mutual connection, which is perhaps the foremost problem faced by the modern artist. Modern art is often accused of being over–subjective, excessively individual and over-confident. Expressionism itself can be accused of being an activity that has nothing to do with the accurate definition of the word “art”. Art has consistently been a process of exchange and fulfillment, of creating that, which is worldly and exists independently.’ With regards to Uri Dushy, these issues take on special meaning. His initial entrance into the world of plastic art was with his photomontage works. About 15 years ago Dushy, who was up until then engaged in the field of music, began creating sizeable, brightly colored paintings into which he incorporated dozens of personal photographs’ fragments. The works were overwhelming in their direct, forceful and dynamic execution, as well as the straightforward naivete that seemed to burst from the heart of the artist. Dushy was imbued with the artistic courage to combine photographs of industrial sites that remained vacant and mute prior to their demolition, which he decided to document in his drawings, with dozens of apocalyptic industrial landscapes photographed by him. He then sank the photos in reservoirs of oil paint, combining and assimilating the one into the other, finally forming one artistic entity, amazing in its visual effect. His work has somewhat baffled the viewers, leading to more than one vague response from professionals in the field, who could not precisely categorize this new art. The first exhibit was displayed in a commercial industrial space in southern Tel Aviv. Mobile bulbs positioned on lighting poles illuminated the works. The event itself, this ‘other’ and different gallery marked a breakthrough in a career that was predefined by ‘other’ criteria, directed towards the attention of the widest range of audiences possible, seeking to be displayed to all people, not solely for those who are ‘professionally qualified’ to understand art. Hanna Arendt comments on this matter in the above mentioned book: ‘The artist’s substantial worldliness might not change even if “objectless art” replaces the description of things. The artist, be he a painter, a poet or a musician, creates worldly objects and this realization has nothing in common with the expressionistic activity, which is dubious and at any rate certainly isn’t art. The term “expressionist art” consists of two contradicting words, which can not be said regarding the term “abstract art”.’ This may be the place to note the liberty that Uri Dushy has taken upon himself to individually represent the meaning of his art, to invent the genres in which he desires to create, and through his creative eyeglasses to project outwards to us the viewers his impression, created anew in the process of building his works. Uri Dushy creates the landscapes of his works in another way, utterly different from their direct and obvious appearance to the audience. Deconstruction of the image and its completion anew by the artist while adding backgrounds and colors stemming from his personal emotional world have created a new work, definitely not ‘ordinary’ expressionist, according to the known and accepted codes. To a certain degree, his creation process reminds of famous quote by Jackson Pollack: ‘The painting has a life of its own. The painting exists as an object completely independent of the artists' subjective feelings. We, the viewers, respond to its harmony in the appropriate emotional manner – however, the painting does not “express” such emotions but merely evokes them, and in this regard is just one more object from the world’s objects – impersonal as a mountain or an apple.’ Uri Dushy's proceeding to work on his large paintings was in fact a type of development of these huge photo collages into landscape and atmosphere paintings’ later to be translated to the computer language, enlarged and minimized according to need and printed on canvas and were a transition from Uri Dushy’s early classic work done on laminated and industrial wood. The transition to canvas announced a move towards more meticulous works on the one hand, but on the other hand a move to more massive and thorough creation and production in both size and format. Uri Dushy has always been attracted to enormous industrial sites, somewhat futuristic landscapes, immense machinery, expansive halls containing motion and imaginable action. He was personally impressed by locations dominated by real “doing” and creation, places where workers toiled in physical work. Dushy, romantically impressed with such locations, decides to document these creating processes. These were followed by consecutive series of art works in continuity with the series of the old ‘Itzhar’ manufacturing site in Nahalat Itzhak. While Dushy encountered ‘Itzhar’ during his search for soon-to-be-demolished industrial sites, he visited the additional places following commissions he received. Notable difference can be seen in the works created henceforth. In his early series of ‘Itzhar’ factory and the greenhouse series he added dancers in motion amongst the ruins as a kind of disappearing Old World faced by a young, dynamic world emerging in the energy of a work of art. On the other hand, in his new works he tries to document the place’s scenery in all its details, into which he incorporates the human factor, usually the workers of the plant or the company. Simultaneously, he continues to create landscape paintings combined with photos of train stations, quarters of an old city, characters from movies In Collingiwood's book ‘The Principles of Art’, book which has defined the true characteristics of the experience we call ‘art’, the author states that there is one more trait previously unmentioned: it is essential to art that it be prophetic: ‘The artist must prophesize, not in the sense of fortune telling, but rather that he should tell his audience what it is that takes place in their innermost heart, doing so in spite of the danger of evoking grudge and anger towards him. The artist's duty is to speak aloud from his heart. Nonetheless, he shouldn't reveal his own secrets, as claimed by the individualistic theory of art. As a spokesman of his community, he should disclose the secrets of the people among which he lives. The reason he is needed is that there exists no human community knowing assure of the occurrences in the innermost depth of it's members' hearts. If the community has no one who can tell them these things, it is deceiving itself on the one topic in which ignorance means death. Art is a remedy in the hands of the community in order to diminish the corruption of society.’ Uri Dushy's Video-Art Works Uri Dushy's video-art works are tangent to while at the same time keeping away from the familiar and accepted terms of this genre. As in all his fields of creation, here as well Dushy has takena highly personal, unique and special path in his works. Firstly, being a musician, his work isn’t satisfied with trivial computer-produced compositions. He goes out and records sounds of nature, sounds of winds and urban sounds of bustling streets, industrial machinery, abstract vocals and more. These are translated in his works into thrilling images and visions. The majority of his films follow scenes of theater and movements initiated by his spouse, the choreographer Orly Dushy. These improvisational scenes take place in nature, in pools of water, in partially demolished buildings and were completed and meticulously edited in their shared studio in Ein Sarid. Later on Uri has moved into realms of the abstract and developed films dominated by the line, the unrecognizable body language, the colors turning into monochromatic machine colors where his interference as a painter and photographer is felt. In this series he even approached designing three-dimensional figures that will develop into figure sculptures of splendid metal shadowong. Lately there have developed in Uri Dushy's world of video, series of theater films highly influenced by scenes from classic film works that became independent and forceful creations in their own right. The first documentation of the group of dancers began over ten years ago, over the remains of the demolished ‘Itzhar’ manufacturing site on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Later on, he filmed numerous films inside the Givataaim water institute, proceeded to produce series of ‘The Four Elements’ in collaboration with the undersigned on the sand hills of Tel Mond, on the Herzeliya beach and in the Ramon Crater. In all series, he chose especially theatrical angles, maintained the independence of the moving artists and adopted specification segments that he later developed in his films. Some of the films were improved using a computer technique, some of them were freely integrated with the two dimensional works. Little by little Dushy's works began attaining the typical label of Uri Dushy. Especially interesting is his walk along a permanent axis that tends to develop the theatrical aspect of the participants in his films. On the other hand he is highly tempted to visually develop the films as a painter and photographer, leading him to focus on shape, structures and body language. From these he takes the images and shapes, focusing less on the movements’ narrative and the work’s space context. These combinations of focus, at times within a single film, create a dramatic tension that became his typical and creative asset. Beauty and the eye-pleasing aspects of the world, nature and man's creative behavior are leading principles when following Uri Dushy's work. He has a personal need to pay attention to all that is beautiful while examining and exploring the components characterizing this world. The Israeli art theoretician Gideon Offrat writes in his book ‘The Patterns of Beauty’: ‘I have learned that art creates the patterns of beauty, and these patterns change at the rate that art develops. The criteria for measuring beauty will be found where the theories of art style are found. Beauty is a type of ghost, the invisible side of the visible... Perhaps the truth lies in the words of Albrecht Diehrer written in 1512: “But what is absolute beauty, this I shall ignore, for no one knows unless he is God…”’ Uri Dushy is not afraid to deal with the aesthetic, the wonderful and the exalted – and this teaches us much about the characteristics according to which his video films are created. A prominent series of video art films that ought to be mentioned is the series of films of the female body in motion, made with Orly Dushy. The series creates a dialogue with the praised American choreographer Martha Graham. It was Graham who introduced new terms in the field of movement for the world of modern dancing. The body language emerging from her avant-garde works hinted at new forms, not necessarily complementing to the bodies of her dancers. Photographing the dancers covered with stretched fabric over the lengths and widths of their bodies created one of Graham’s wondrous images. In the films by the Dushy couple, the body appears covered by a kind of stretched fabric sleeve, moving while facing the wind and creating an exciting aesthetic texture composed of the integration between movement and a static stand. The body films included the movement dialogues with the artist Rotem Ritov, the dancers in nature and the work that took place opposite the huge signposts on the Ayalon highway in Ramat Gan. Dushy's video films were always concerned with life and the environment in which we exist, in the minor segments often unnoticed unless we stop and take a closer look. Some of the video works resemble old films, classic and memorable works. Two Dimentional Sculpting According to Uri Dushy In recent years Uri Dushy is greatly inspired by his own paintings and turns many characters occupying these paintings into two-dimensional iron sculptures. Uri Dushy's works deal with the documentation of figures, usually taken from daily episodes, and turning them into large sculptures at times towering 5 meters high and more. The general audience likes these figures and identifies with them (especially favored are the series of an elderly man or woman seated on a chair reading a book). The sculptures were created in small sized series intended for home display, but later on were transformed into outside works displayed across numerous cities. The series' main uniqueness lies in the bypassers' identification with the works and the sculptures being understood and easily connected to by all audiences. Dushy created another series of unique sculptures for display in company offices and industrial factories. These works were made by orders placed directly by the owners of such places. A unique sculpture from iron including a group of commuting figures serves as a wall partition in the offices of the hi-tech firm Agilent in Tel Aviv. The brokers firm Altschouler, a company that focuses on ecological projects, purchased another series of sculptures. Their tendency to display the sculptures in the offices serves to present a positive and supportive attitude towards the community, as well as the company's clients and suppliers. Uri develops his sculpture series, adding at times an additional series of figure sculptures to the existing ones. Nowadays, a series of over 20 monumental sculpture works is being installed in Jerusalem, consisting of a group of iron figures "escorting" the drivers along the road. At times, Uri Dushy's two-dimensional sculptures raise questions regarding the audience's impression and understanding of these three-dimensional works. On the one hand these works resemble the shadowing that appears in his paintings, while on the other hand, being made of massive iron, are considered to be sculptures, thus belonging to a different medium with different artistic rules. Uri Dushy’s sculptures consist of three main series. The first are the small sized interior sculptures. These are figure sculptures, some of which were taken from classic films, which include bicycle riders, lovers under umbrella, book readers, athlete women diving into the water and others. These sculptures were cut by laser and fastened into natural stones. The second series consists of the outdoor sculptures positioned across cities and parks. These large, two-dimensional sculptures are usually designed in their natural metal color, and painted only rarely in colors according to the environment. Recent projects that included these large outdoor sculptures took place in Holon, Petach-Tikva, Jerusalem, the Sculpture Park at Sheba Medical Center and the Agriculture Exposition in Tel Aviv. Prior to these series, sculptures were displayed across the city of Givataym, at the entrance to Ein Sarid and more. The third and most unique series is that of the wall sculptures consisting of clusters of figures in animated order that creates an impressive movement. The small sized sculptures include young girl, bathing women, bicycle riders, acrobat and man carrying a briefcase. Herbert Reed writes: ‘until the 20th century, sculptures have dealt mainly with mass, the entity described by August Roden as “the lump”. By designing sculptures having a religious purpose, monuments commemorating events and important people or sculptures for the decoration of castles and palaces, the artists foremost concern was the human figure. Modern sculptures have succeeded in disengaging from their enslavement to the human figure and have greatly broadened their range of shapes’. Uri Dushy has made a double move: returning the sculpting back to the human figure, while sculpting non-heroic figures, as his figures are taken from daily life. Yet, he does this in an up to date language, using industrial iron and two-dimensional sculpting-a language relatively unfamiliar. From the Historic Photo-Collage to the Integrated PaintingUri Dushy’s photo-collages are high quality oil paintings painted with clearly visible skill, including motifs originating in photographs taken by the artist. Following a series of tours across Europe, Uri Dushy has accumulated an impressive amount of unique images that were intended to be included in later paintings. Some of the pictures were combined with photographs taken in Israel, among others. These landscape combinations formed the initial stage in the making of the collage. In 1998, on Israel’s 50th independence year, and when the Israeli national theater ‘Habima’ celebrated its 80th anniversary, Uri Dushy was invited to document in artistic painting the history of the national theater. The project originated by the artist Dalia Friedland, whose parents were among the founders of ‘Habima’ and was co-produced with the International Artists’ Museum, which I represent in Israel. Uri Dushy designed a series of original photo collages in black and white, and in shades of gray and white. The series included motifs photographed in Israel and Poland a number of years earlier. The exhibition opened in the Eretz Israel Museum, and was later displayed in Beit Reuven Museum in Tel Aviv and the Opera Helicon Exhibit Space in Moscow. The paintings dealt with ‘Habima’ plays, characterization of classic actors’ portraits and dramatic play scenes integrated into authentic chapters from Habima’s history. This commissioned series has opened the door to a long list of such projects. Uri Dushy created exhibitions for both the cities of Naharya and Givataim, inspired by old photographs from the cities’ archives. The exhibitions were purchased by these local authorities and are displayed to the local audience in public spaces. In these series of paintings the artist included numerous motifs leading from the cities’ foundation up to the present. This medium opened new possibilities for interactive art projects, contributing to the city’s appearance as well as to the residents’ knowledge regarding the local history. In Naharya the exhibit is permanently displayed in the city library, and in Givataim along a centrally located wall. As aforesaid, Dushy is greatly inspired by mythical movie films, using classic motifs of well-known characters in his works. He dedicated a special series to famous Italian films and to films directed by the genius director Frederico Fellini. For an exhibition at the Perry Gallery in New York Dushy created a group of works in which appeared classic motifs from American culture: the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, etc. There is an element of freshness in the altered use he makes of the daily and realistic symbols he chooses. Nowadays, many of his works are printed on canvas on which he proceeds to paint. This method has increased his works’ availability and mobility, in addition to adding numerous possibilities for work in varied formats. Uri Dushy’s photo collages have created a new artistic language, similar to the first photo collage works by the British artist David Hockney, that were presented in the fashion magazine ‘Vogue’ during the 1980’s. Combining details of various segments of reality within the framework of one picture enables to refer to specific places and events with which Dushy becomes acquainted. This technique led him to confront many commercial assignments ordered by business and industrial companies in Israel and abroad. An increasing number of business groups approached Dushy with orders for a specific painting for the company, and this field was developed as part of Dushy’s artistic work. Most of these works were exhibited in museums or art spaces. Among the commercial companies that ordered from Uri Dushy works for their art collections are: Leumi Bank, the Israel Electricity Company, Elite Group, Dr. Fischer, Remmet Construction, Aginet, TD Soft, Bezek and more. The firm Dan & Bradstreet have recently purchased 800 art works to be distributed to prominent Israeli CEOs. Genuine and profound love of the creation process along with true inspiration from both classic and current artwork characterizes Uri Dushy's art. He fervently creates art that is personal, genuine and uncompromising towards up-to-date fashions. Uri Dush appreciates beauty and aesthetics, believing that it is his professional responsibility to contribute to their existence in the world. Uri Dushy creates a dialogue with his audience, while capturing them and enabling them to take part in the creative experience. His magnificent art works are assertive, positive, understandable and intended for the eyes of all people, thus contributing to their positive outlook. It can be said that the works reflect a positive inspiration sent from the artist to his audience, which returns the positive energy that contributes to the continuity of the artist’s creation. Parallel to his Israeli career, Uri Dushy exhibited in one-man exhibitions around the world and participated in various group exhibitions. As early as 1994 he took part in the Israeli art project “Dialogue” in Germany and exhibited in Gallery Kolar in Badkisingen. Schparksa Bank in Germany sponsored the exhibition. A year later he participated in the Israeli booth at the TOYP International Art Show in Istanbul. His works were received with much interest from the audience. In 1995 Uri Dushy was invited with a group of Israeli artists to an exhibition in the Artists Museum in Lodge, Poland. He there created a work of painting and sculpting on the topic of train. Naturally, this sensitive topic was received with mixed feelings among the hosts. A year later, on Israel's 50th Independence Day, he opened a one-man exhibition in the Opera Helicon space in central Moscow. A visit to the Netherlands and Austria resulted in the exhibition of his works in leading galleries in Haag and Gretz, Austria. Additional projects of the Artists’ Museum brought his works to Orensanz center in New York, the Jewish Museum in Venice, group exhibitions in Kassel, Germany and the city of Labook in Texas. Uri Dushy's paintings were received with much sympathy among audiences, thus encouraging him to undertake new works using new inspirations and formats. All along he kept participating in the international "Bodis" project, creating series of video films, some of which were used for works as part of the international “Markers” project. Doron Polak, Curator Spring 2007
Selected Exhibitions:
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Copyright © 2008 Uri Dushy, All rights reserved. |
