No more art in sand, no sandbook, no more masters.

Nothing gained by dice. How many
Mutes?
Seventeen.

Your question – your answer.
Your song, what does it know?

Deepinsnow,
eepinnow,
e-i-o.

Paul Celan / ★
Translated by Karl S. Weimar

Yonatan Zofy’s works are deceptive in their complexity. His images transmit a thin silence, but allow restlessness to rise to the surface at the same time. They are full and compressed, yet contain emptiness and lack of grip. The silence seeks to reveal a secret emotional charge.

Through exploration and experimenting, Zofy gives special attention to the sensitivity and complexity of the materials.

The materials are basic: white glue, sea sand, glass, one shade of acrylic pigment.

The images he uses are simple: stone, sand, sky, cloud, hand, line.

The line of horizon between the sea and the sky is elusive, difficult to grasp.

The surface and the image above it – whether it is concrete or abstract – merge into each other, forming an enigmatic new being.

The world depicted in the exhibition is clean and calm and at the same time it contains loneliness and emptiness. It is a void of humanity, like before/after civilization. All that remains is sand and sky.

★

Yonatan Zofy, born in 1983, lives and works in Ramat Gan.

Graduated from the fine art department in Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem (2010).

Winner of the Osnat Mozes young artist Award (2017), an artist-teacher scholarship from the Ministry of Culture (2019) and an award of excellence for his studies at Bezalel (2011).

Participated in museum group exhibitions, “Truths and Swords” (2020) at the Israel Museum, “Code against Code” (2019) and “Vahid Roshem” (2018) at the Tel Aviv Museum.

His works are featured in the collections of the Tel Aviv Museum, the Israel Museum, the Knesset collection and other private collections.