Tomer Ganihar is a booming presence in the intimate space of the Battat Contemporary gallery in Little Italy. Working the crowd at the opening of his photography exhibition Into the Light: New Work from Israel, he taps on my shoulder and pulls a catalogue out of my hands to show off his other works. I’m slightly offended but take it as an opportunity to invite myself into his conversation.
Ganihar is discussing his love of manual photography and his aversion to digital manipulation. “Nobody does this anymore!” he insists almost every third sentence.
Ganihar is a Tel Aviv-born artist who stumbled into photography while serving in the Israeli army. He has no artistic training in the medium and he keeps mum on how his photographic skills were put to use during his military service. Upon leaving the army, his passion for photography developed, eventually launching him into a career as an internationally acclaimed artist. He has exhibited at galleries around the world, as well as being included in the 2007 Venice Biennale. In his photographic works, Ganihar captures the drama of light, manifested in raves, hospitals, and urban and rural landscapes. The exhibition at Battat (a remarkable first foray into photography for the gallery) displays Ganihar’s recent abstract works, which reveal the incredible possibilities of photography when stripped to its basic elements.
Shooting with a manual Nikon F4, on high speed Fuji film, Ganihar uses long exposures and a deft knowledge of light to create photographs reminiscent of (and perhaps more intriguing than) Mark Rothko’s Colour Field paintings from the 1940s and ‘50s. Warm crimsons, burgundies and golden hues rise in parallel horizons on each panel. These expansive bands of colour capture the evanescent, awe-inspiring qualities of atmosphere and light.
The discussion quickly turns to the subject of Rothko. “Rothko, I love!” he proclaims. Rothko died on the day Ganihar was born, a coincidence he believes to be a portent of his own artistic future. Like Rothko, Ganihar strives for aesthetic perfection in his work, seeking to express the full potential of photography, without digital alteration. He knows he is shaking up the medium. “I’m doing for photography what Rothko did for painting.” He is excited about what’s to come. “Call me in ten years,” he says with a wink. “I’ll be big.”
The works from Into The Light are illuminating and transporting. They are abstract yet they maintain a distinct sense of place, thanks to titles detailing locations such as the Jordan River, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Tree lines and riverbanks can be perceived in the darkest shadows. The deep reds and ochres call to mind the foreboding and breathtaking dusks and dawns of old sailors’ adages.
Find your way to Battat Contemporary and take a moment to lose yourself in these images. Chase the shadows of a sunset, fall into a vermillion river, and drift into unfading, endless skies. Rothko-esque enlightenment may follow.
Into the Light: New Work from Israel is on display at Battat Contemporary until December 18, 2010. For more information visit the gallery’s website.
