A Place of Worry Zohar Nir-Amitin 24.9.2005 – 13.11.2005 At any time two artists seem to cohabit inside Zohar Nir-Amitin. One, thoughtful and ironic, a little shy maybe, steps back, ponders, meditates, measures, turns clichés on their heads, observes the world in all its incongruities. The other soars, gravity-free, into the forests and skies and clouds of the mind, on the wings of lyrical emotions translated in bold strokes or delicate, grainy patterns that recall a photograph many times enlarged. But both are exiles suspended in delicate balance between the self and the other, silence and speech, home and abroad. Both have in common deep, flowing emotion held in check by wistfulness and longing. And both are the same person of course who, yielding the etching point, slowly, patiently, etches away with the metal our ordinary view of the world. So that her own vision may replace ours, reveal itself like a secret whispered, and float, reversed, on the shiny surface; and then appear pressed into the velvety Arches paper, translated into infinite nuances of black and white deployed like musical scales. Etching is an ideal tool for Zohar; it joins these seemingly contradictory attributes she possesses: emotion and obsession, precision and lyrics, aggression and tenderness .It is a very demanding art technically but so special that those who pursue it find themselves caught into its deep and unique charm. After etching, any other technique seems a little trite, lacking in subtlety. Zohar needs no color because black and white contain all colors. She needs only black and white because, as in a dream, it is the viewers who will project into her work the colors of their desire. Text by: Carrole Nagger Curator: Avraham Eilat 'Goddy Goody Gumdrops' 'Forests'