Origin Story*

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Each episode of the animation series Powerpuff Girls begins with a description of how this heroic threesome was formed. Their father, Prof. Utonium, sought to create “perfect little girls,” mixing together sugar, spice and “everything nice.” A work accident in the lab, however, caused the mysterious “Chemical X” to spill into the mixture, transforming the girls into super-heroines who combat crime.

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Like the professor’s experiment, which was botched while also succeeding beyond all expectations, this exhibition represents my attempt to collect the elements that have made me into an artist – perhaps tracing the impact of my own personal “Chemical X.” What was mixed in that original cauldron? What was intentionally put into it, and what was added by mistake? This is a Frankenstein-like attempt to remix the elements that formed me as an artist, and to see whether I can arrive at a formula or recipe that will solve the mystery.

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What was the origin story? Was it the green-blue background of the video game Sonic the Hedgehog? The long-nosed figure “Yossef” created by the artist Dudu Geva? Or perhaps the exhibition of works by Michael Sgan Cohen at the Israel Museum, or Moshe Gershuni’s retrospective at the Tel Aviv Museum? Each of these works impacted my visual and artistic conception as an artist. They cannot be separated from one another or categorized as high or low, inside or outside. They form a stream of consciousness leading to me in the studio. Located among the flat pixels, slapstick humor and macabre trauma are my painting’s underlying elements.

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This exhibition is also a reflection of my period of development as an artist. I have attempted to remain true to the things that have influenced me over time, rather than beautifying things by retroactively representing them in a politically correct manner or in alignment with my heartfelt wishes as the mature artist I am now.

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Finally, this exhibition is akin to standing on the shoulders of giants, and is filled with esteem and love for all those who were and still are my teachers – both in actuality and in my heart.

Participating artists: Yoav Efrati, Ido Bar-El, Dudu Geva, Nahum Gutman, Philippe Guston, Moshe Gershuni, Zvi Tolkovsky, Yitzhak Livneh, Uri Lifschitz, Mishkafayim magazine, Michael Sgan Cohen, Sonic the Hedgehog, Amos and Naomi Rosen, Marc Chagall.

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Curator: Elad Rosen

Director and Chief Curator: Tamar Gispan-Greenberg
Producer: Noa Weiss Simon

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* In comics and superhero movies, the origin story is the narrative detailing how the protagonists became who they are at present. It may center on a fall into a container of acid, a spider bite, or the explosion of the hero’s home planet. The origin story is not designed to explain the character’s current behavior – heroes remain heroes, while villains remain villains. Rather, it is meant to expand the narrative by pointing to origins that were previously unknown, at times even to the heroes themselves.