Matan Ben-Tolila
Matan Ben Tolila’s work hangs on moments in which reality and abstraction co-exist. His work methods include acts of repetition, distortion, filling, and subtracting. Ben Tolila investigates issues of mobility, stability, and control – or lack thereof, suggesting several possibilities simultaneously. The Artist paints mental landscapes as though they were exterior landscapes. He tantalizes us with familiar and tangible objects, in which he embeds unmissable traces of illusion and a puzzle, a labyrinth, as though explicitly telling us: the image before you is in my mind and in your mind only.
The scenery portrayed in Ben Tolila’s earlier paintings featured temporary structures of different kind and function, constructed with simple, almost schematic elements. These temporary structures spread out and conquer the landscape while at the same time blocking it, dictating scale, perspective, and narrative. The landscapes seem to describe nowhere specific; painted with intensive opaque brushstrokes and strong non-natural colors they reflected detachment, unease, and tension.
Ben Tolila has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, such as: “Journeys” Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Shesh-Besh, Petach Tikva Museum of Art; The Same Sea/A Different Coast, Galerie 61, Bielefeld, Germany; Vacuum, RawArt Gallery, Tel Aviv; Open Call for Snow, Gallery 39, Tel Aviv; City Gallery, …
Matan Ben Tolila’s work hangs on moments in which reality and abstraction co-exist. His work methods include acts of repetition, distortion, filling, and subtracting. Ben Tolila investigates issues of mobility, stability, and control – or lack thereof, suggesting several possibilities simultaneously. The Artist paints mental landscapes as though they were exterior landscapes. He tantalizes us with familiar and tangible objects, in which he embeds unmissable traces of illusion and a puzzle, a labyrinth, as though explicitly telling us: the image before you is in my mind and in your mind only.
The scenery portrayed in Ben Tolila’s earlier paintings featured temporary structures of different kind and function, constructed with simple, almost schematic elements. These temporary structures spread out and conquer the landscape while at the same time blocking it, dictating scale, perspective, and narrative. The landscapes seem to describe nowhere specific; painted with intensive opaque brushstrokes and strong non-natural colors they reflected detachment, unease, and tension.
Ben Tolila has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, such as: “Journeys” Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Shesh-Besh, Petach Tikva Museum of Art; The Same Sea/A Different Coast, Galerie 61, Bielefeld, Germany; Vacuum, RawArt Gallery, Tel Aviv; Open Call for Snow, Gallery 39, Tel Aviv; City Gallery, Kfar Saba; Travelers’ Hut, Bezalel Gallery, Tel Aviv; Rock Paper& Scissors, The New Gallery, The Artists’ Studios, Jerusalem.
Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art
