Knowledge

“Knowledge” features four 201 cm x 161 cm paintings on stretched cotton canvas that Gassin-Gradstein created specifically for Exhibit A London. Entitled Daat / Knowledge, Natane / To Give, Ayin / Eye, Rouah / Breathing, these works are rooted in the artist’s response to the terrorist attacks across Île-de-France in January 2015. Each painting depicts an ancient Hebrew letter chosen for its form and possible interpretation. The letters are sewn into the canvas using a unique typographical technique. Painted over the letters are hands which the artist used “... as much for their symbolic meaning as for the variety of motifs they offered,” writes critic Gérard Durozoi. Gassin-Gradstein asked locals living in a small village in Burgundy to loan him their hands and move them “however they wished” for his paintings. Their hands “are praying for knowledge,” Gassin-Gradstein explains. The colour he selected for each painting is also symbolic. Each pigment undergoes successive stages which react differently to the canvas. This process represents a transformation based on areal situation. Through these pieces, the artist asks: “What will become of these forms? The layering of two hopes, two living civilizations that question what they are still able to say to us.” The title piece, Daat / Knowledge, hangs in the window and is framed by a 1950s vintage Italian Rattan chair (available as a pair) by Janine Abraham and Dirk Jan Pol for Bonacina and a Franco Albini lobster stool. The online exhibition also includes three additional 46 cm x 55 cm canvas paintings by Gassin-Gradstein entitled Bet / Vet, Pé, and Shin. Gassin-Gradstein’s work has been featured in numerous galleries, exhibitions, and publications over the last two decades. He currently lives in Paris.