Les Rencontres de la Photographie, 36th Edition, Arles, France, 2005 Barry Frydlender: Pictures 1994-2006, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, March - June 2007 for each, another example exhibited
Literature
Barry Frydlender: Down Here, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2007, p. 161
Catalogue Essay
In his monumental work Smoking, Sinai (2004), acclaimed Israeli artist Barry Frydlender creates a multifaceted tableau – meticulously and seamlessly constructed from hundreds of images – which depicts young Israelis relaxing on the beach in Sinai. Frydlender photographed the location for several days, accumulating individual shots from multiple angles. When he returned to his Tel Aviv studio to digitally assemble the images, he chose to focus on the activities of smoking, drinking and reading. A close observation reveals that many of the figures are engaged in one of these leisurely activities. When read in the context of mandatory military service, Smoking offers new meanings. These young Israelis have shed their military uniforms to enjoy some respite from their demanding reality.
Smoking, one of Frydlender’s earliest digital assemblages, represents a richly detailed narrative. In telling the story of what he saw, Frydlender preserves the unity of space – the landscape and the positions of the figures and structures are accurate – but not the unity of time – all the activities did not occur at the same time. What appears to be a single scene uncovers, on closer investigation, the passage of time: the three young women walking together in the far left distance appear again individually in the middle ground.
In 2007, Frydlender became the first Israeli artist to hold a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and was awarded the 2010 Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. His works are held in a number of prominent collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
2004 Chromogenic print, mounted. 112 x 208.5 cm (44 1/8 x 82 1/8 in.) Signed in ink, printed title, date and number 3/5 on an artist's label accompanying the work.
This work is number 3 from the sold-out edition of 5.
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ‡
Sold for £32,500
Contact Specialist Lou Proud
Head of Photographs
London
+ 44 207 318 4018
