Jossef Krispel, the artist who was invited to curate an exhibition at Noga Gallery, chose for it a theme of romance and its expressions in Israeli contemporary art. In a text, “Romance of absence”, written for this show, he analyzes the empty and incomprehensible sides of romance: the material thinness of sculpture, the fluency of photography, and the asceticism of painting. Krispel chose to show four artists that symbolize for him the generation of the last decade – their art deals with beauty as an object of passion and as a tool for expressing feelings and desires wrapped in a transparent and hermetic shell.
However, alongside the observation of the seemingly polished surface of the works, Krispel points to the venom flowing among the images, the obsession as a moving power behind the works, the pursuit after the remnants of the past as a constant and necessary state for relating to romance. In fact, he suggests that the approach of contemporary art has never been detached from the primary romantic mood that drives art itself.
In addition, Krispel explores the canonic notion of "a want of matter" in Israeli art as opposed to minimalist approaches, and identifies it as an up to date and valid manifestation of sufficing in little. This exhibition combines poverty of materials with the asceticism of artists using them; it also portrays as legitimate this unapologetic exploration of beauty that creates romantic content, and not visa versa.