Gili Avissar, Roey Heifetz, Andrey Lev, Sagit Mezamer

‘Hogwarts’ is not a thematic exhibition: the thread connecting the four participating artists- Andrey Lev, Gili Avissar, Sagit Mezamer and Roey Heifetz- is hardly that of theme, technique or medium.

The four are recent graduates of the Bezalel Academy M.F.A and advanced studies program, whose works stood out at ‘Haroshet’ (“industry”), the 2009 graduation show.

In this aspect, ‘Hogwarts’ (named after the school of witchcraft from the ‘Harry Potter’ book series) is a kind of continuum of the ‘continuing studies’, a showcase that preserves something of the interactions and reciprocal influences typical of a framework of joint studies and artistic practice.

However, the grouping of these four artists in a new exhibition less than a year after their graduation show, consists not merely in marking a transitory phase for them, but also gives the opportunity to follow some fascinating artistic trends whilst they are emerging; for in ‘Haroshet’, one couldn’t help but sense a new and spectacular direction: risking a generalization, there appeared to be a turn from the text-image direction, one that is so common and familiar in Israeli art, to a different direction- that of image emerging from matter.