Untitled

The work of Gil Marco Shani scrapes the surface of a satiated, self-satisfied society to expose what goes on underneath. Violence, sexuality, fear, and horror emerge from ostensibly naïve depictions, unearthing Israel’s anxieties in the early 21st century. Shani’s paintings and drawings of recent years seem as though they were extracted from first-aid manuals or children’s books. Rendered in meticulous, uniform, and economical lines, they might have been generated by a computer without human intervention. The violence- and sensuality-free line contrasts sharply with the contents. This tension between style and subject matter is disconcerting: the viewer is lured by the playful aspect of the painting, only to discover dark, harsh elements lurking within. Shani’s works suggest a critical comment on an idealistic culture whose utopian aspirations have collapsed into a world of empty codes, codes that cover up violence and morals gone awry. With their atmosphere of looming catastrophe, they address such themes as militarism, the wrongs of the Occupation, and rites of passage from youth to adulthood. Some contain references to early Zionist aesthetics, thus juxtaposing contemporary Israeli reality with concepts from the past.Central to Zionism was a vision of the Middle East as the place where Jews would shed their Diaspora skins and be harmoniously integrated into their natural surroundings. Emblematic of those surroundings and that harmony was the camel. Zionist artists of the 1920s portrayed camels in sun-bathed landscapes which corresponded to the expectation that Zionism would redeem the Jew from the gloom of exile. However, Shani’s monumental untitled painting from 2006–7 is dominated by darkness. Two camels walk alone in a rocky landscape that is very different from their usual terrain. As though a thick cloud has engulfed the earth, everything is black; only the contours are visible. The animal known as the “ship of the desert” appears to be lost and is alienated from the landscape, even though virtually absorbed into its intricate lines. The stones that seem to fall from the sky on the left-hand side complete this almost apocalyptic image. At the same time, the child-like depiction and its graphic quality, recalling playful illustrations in which children are asked to find a mischievous hidden figure, mitigate the drama and pathos, resulting in an enigmatic work that oscillates between humor and disaster.