The practice of Adam Rabinowitz (*1973, Hadera, Israel; lives and works in Los Angeles and Tel Aviv-Yafo) encompasses traditional mediums such as painting and sculpture, alongside more immersive languages such as installations and moving images. Notions such as appropriation, repetition, reflection, and appearance – versus disappearance – have been pillars of his modus operandi. Nevertheless, throughout his twenty-five years in the field of art, the artist has found ways to avoid seeing his work codified through assimilated concepts, ideas or terms – a position that has been consistently counterbalanced by a firm desire to create “specific atmospheres” that are immediately identifiable with each other and in turn, with his practice as a whole.
Rabinowitz’s newly commissioned work presented at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo consists of a spatial-installation that invites the spectator to engage in a total and yet intimate experience. Built as a room-within-the-room – this installation, which gives the title to the exhibition – is a sort of ‘cocoon’ in which parallel worlds are manifested through minimal actions. The idea of “parallel worlds,” of surreal scenarios, has always been one of Rabinowitz’s preoccupations. However, his decision to work between Tel Aviv-Yafo and Los Angeles, enhanced such interest. Specifically his interests merge with a cultural background, that of California, that is deeply immersed in the psychedelic scene, but also with art movements like “Finish Fetish” (West Coast Minimalism) and Walt Disney’s incomparable influence on visual culture and society – not only there but in the entire west, including, due to historical conditions, also Israel.
Disney, in fact – together with a kind of visual language that echoes illustration related to the music industry of the 1960s and 1970s – is the main visual source for his iconic silkscreen works. Following these premises, his solo exhibition at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo will include two components: the Ground Floor Gallery is taken over by the new work, which has been designed specifically for the space; the First Floor Gallery features a series of two-dimensional works, also newly created for this occasion, that are based on a single image, creating a spatial effect that echoes some of his early installations.
