Alon Kedem / Self Production

In Alon Kedem's paintings, complex entanglements of human beings, x-ray machines, production lines of figures and body parts constitute works full of humor that by their nature elude the expectations created by a theoretical system. They create an attempt – connected with foregone failure – at organization and order.  The works are found in a transition, in an interim world of examination, lack of success, in processes without conclusions.  What we get is an entanglement that alternately becomes more involved and unwinds, an entanglement of interactions between originality and acceptance of tradition as a basis for inventive ability, between rebellion and unity.  At the center of this knot is the person painted along with the observer, pushed aside and repulsed due to the contradictions between his differences and his passions for frustrating involvement with others.

Alon Kedem (1982) studied for his undergraduate degree from 2005-2009, and the MFA program at Bezalel (2012-2014).  His works have been exhibited at several group shows in Israel and abroad, and at a solo show in honor of receiving the Moses Award for a young artist, 2011-12.  Kedem was chosen to participate in the Book and exhibition "100 Painters of Tomorrow", published by Thames & Hudson (London, 2014).  The book's committee included selected figures in the contemporary art world, among them artist Cecily Brown (New York), writer and art critic Barry Schwabsky (New York), curators Yoko Hasegawa (Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan), and Gregor Muir (Institute for Contemporary Art, London). Kedem's works are found in a number of private and public collections, in Israel and abroad.

"Self Production" is on view at "Feinberg Projects" gallery through March 7, 2015.