Flower Power

About

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas

“Flower Power” is a slogan that has become identified with the 1960s as a symbol of passive resistance and nonviolence ideology. It is rooted in the opposition movement to the Vietnam War led by the hippies in the US, which spread to the rest of the world, and stands for the idea that flowers and love can be affective in the struggle against violence and war, the fight for peace, openness, equality, free love, and brotherhood of all men. Its symbols were clothing adorned by flowers in bright colors, long hair, psychedelic art and music, permissive attitudes toward sex, and use of drugs like cannabis and LSD. The exhibition wishes to borrow the expression, and use its two parts – flower and power – to present the seductive power of relevant and critical artworks that embody both poles. 

The exhibition wishes to borrow the expression, and use its two parts – flower and power – to present the seductive power of relevant and critical artworks that embody both poles.

Over the generations, flowers in art embodied an aesthetic element that expresses the human spirit, the superiority of man to the beast, and the divine spark in man who is drawn to beauty and aesthetics. Since prehistoric times we find the longing for aesthetics in cave paintings, and in different decorative artefacts found with the bones of prehistoric man and his objects (hair ornament, brooch, decorated bowl). As a marker of aesthetics, “flower” has no role or practice, but its mere presence around man holds added value. At times it is a romantic symbol that represents love, yearning and courtship with its dazzling colors and intoxicating scents. Flower is associated with femininity, which carries with it seduction, sensuality, and eroticism as well as softness and motherhood, holding and containing. At the same time, placing a bouquet of flowers on a grave is an ancient mourning ritual practiced in many cultures, attesting to the man whose life was plucked away. Many types of flowers are protected by thorns that cover their stems, conjuring the dual image of an alluring flower that is simultaneously poisonous and thorny.

Flowers are also a metaphor for a connection to the earth and a place, to the cycle of life in nature, to beginning and end. Man faces the perception of death as an inseparable part of life, aware of the transience and futility of human life. Since time immemorial, man has observed the circle of nature, when the sun that sets at night, terrifyingly disappearing from view, rises again every morning and fills his heart with hope. The blooming tree ripens and gives its fruits, as does the flower which – while so spectacular in bloom – withers and dies as the days goes by, while the small bud that subsequently appears on the stem embodies the full potential of continuity. The Earth completes one orbit around the Sun every year, witnessing the natural changes that create the different seasons.

Flowers and vegetation represent the beautiful and natural, the familiar and mundane versus the fantastical and artificial, which is linked to fairytales and fictional stories that shift away from reality.

The physical and the spiritual alike stand at the heart of this exhibition, but not as a private case, but as a broad and global observation, between tradition (the subject matter itself) and innovation (its treatment). The participating artists invite the viewers to re-examine their perspective on reality, aesthetics and the meanings they hold. 

Featuring:
Nir Adoni, Ali Anvari, Ayelet Carmi, Mai Daas, Yoav Efrati, Nurit Gur Lavy (Karny), Vik JF, Ayala Landow, Yaara Oren, Dina Shenhav, Khen Shish, Irit Tamari, Nurit Yarden, Mark Yashaev, Sahar Zukerman

curated by Carmit Blumensohn