Rimma Arslanov – Dumdemanim Exhibition
Rimma Arslanov, Our latest Exhibition at the Kishon Gallery – 16 December 2010 – 21 January 2011.
Arslanov sculpts and paints robotic “dwarfs” who perform ludicrous “etudes” of terror on plates of concrete and in between hard, gloomy concrete walls. They run around, fight, fall, rise, crash, shoot and “weep”. Here and there one of them aims a gun – a wooden fork used for fast food – at an unknown target. Others don’t require a gun – with explosive belts strapped to their waists or backpacks on their backs, they ram each other headfirst. At times they idly lean against either side of a concrete separation wall and wait. It is immediately evident to the observer that the design and positioning of these images stand in complete contrast to their violent gestures. The satirical situations created by Arslanov rule out any possibility of compassion or sympathy, and leave us with an alienation that provides for the comic effect. Arslanov undoubtedly does not create her art out of righteous fury. The miniaturization of the images, their careful positioning and the playful, parodizing slant she imbues them with, establish their maker as an agent of moral judgment, humor and a sense of play. (shulamit shaked)
Rimma in her sculptures and pictures reflects the naive humor figures, which reminds us all the first computer games, with their partly war partly fun experience.
