My work has been centered on the exploration of pictorial language and space. I have always been interested in human communication and perception, and on each canvas or surface over which I have applied paint and color through my gesture I have attempted to develop concepts rooted in my understanding of personal and collective history and time. In my latest series, I have introduced calligraphy as trace to liberate the associations between concrete words and undefined forms, abstraction and realism, but using Yiddish, in all practical terms an abandoned or almost extinguished language that has lost much of its function and meaning. I propose to look at these words, this language, through both its familiarity -a pre-historic collective past- and its agonizing unfamiliar present, using new types of lenses and with renewed vigor. I look for the subtle, delicate and spiritual force of these forms and symbols, sometimes resisting their meanings, sometimes suggesting a narrative, and sometimes appropriating surreal paths. I have been learning Yiddish for the last three years, and my own frustration, limitations and learning processes have been an intrinsic part of these works. I am aware of the supposed inefficacy of studying and experimenting with a so-called “endangered” language in today’s contemporary modern context, which seems to value homogeneity and transparency. I am constantly traversing layers of knowledge, amnesia and sacrifice, applying layer upon layer over blank, open canvases with a stroke -at times brutal, at times almost invisible- that allows the viewer to open a window to new rituals and testimonies.
