Practice

Alma Shneor and Yaara Oren’s mutual work relies on a repetitive daily practice with clear, pre-set rules: every day for six months both of the artists committed to perform an action upon a white, A5 piece of paper. This arbitrary decision determined a forced reality- a commitment to refer to an empty page on a daily basis, without having the ability to change it in retrospect. They worked simultaneously but separately, without consolidating each other and without defining any subject matter.

According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, perpetual practice (Abyssa) combined with non-attachment (Vairagya) are the foundation stones behind the Yoga Philosophy. By letting go of the material/ physical attachments, the practice becomes the essence itself- the final destination and not its means.

Accordingly, this artistic practice, conducted in a set time - frame became an existential necessity (compared to brushing one’s teeth, or eating). Its outcome was not premeditated and one could not know where this process will lead. This given restriction enabled a mutual journey - a mutual creation while still preserving one’s individual expression. At the end of this process, 366 paper works were united into one installation covering the wall of the gallery space. The paper works hung side by side, in chronological order partially abrogated the artistic ego; blurring the boundaries between the two artists and their artistic identities - thus transforming these two individual processes into one, cohesive piece.

Moreover, this prolonged working process enabled the production of an artist's book. As opposed to the gallery presentation, within the book, the works are divided into pairs by dates of their creation. Every pair becomes one piece, allowing a closer observation upon the new contexts derived from the combination of their paper- works. At times, it seems that both parts of the pair were initially one: an image that completes and almost illustrates a written word, men “hunting” rabbits, empty pages clinging to each other, a reoccurring pencil movement, the pink drinking straw and the pink girl by its side. Within other combinations, it is possible to recognize two completely different, individual voices emerging from the pages.

Oren, operating within her comfort zone- the painting/ drawing medium turned this limitation into freedom; a possibility to experiment and try- on new techniques: brush strokes, collages, stickers, drippings, and more. Alongside the works containing her distinctive visual language, some depict light-footedness, humor, and experimentation. Oren, examined various techniques upon days and pages, in an honest attempt to step out of her artistic limits by creating a series of airy scribbles, stickers, and cut-outs transforming into sceneries, geometrical abstracts, and more.

Untangled from their internal critique, from the unwritten rules of what ‘should be exhibited’, they managed to return to their primal creative experience and forget themselves within the act itself.