NYAB Event - Itamar Freed “Birds of Paradise”

Itamar Freed “Birds of Paradise”

Gitler &

This event has ended.

Gitler &_____ presents Birds of Paradise from Israeli photographer Itamar Freed. Comprising six recent photographs, Freed joins live models with taxidermied birds and situates the distinct pairings in natural settings. Birds of Paradise was previously exhibited at Feinberg Projects Gallery in Tel Aviv (Sept 4 – Oct 18, 2014), which also marked Freed’s very first solo show.

Freed lends his photographic portraits a sculptural effect, in which form, color, and stillness all play off one another, assisted by the presence of calcified birds and undisturbed nature. His palettes are filled with muted contrasts of warm and cool; the red and verdant touches in each scene set off the artist’s tranquil subjects. Freed stages each fantastical portrait as a world unto its own, not unlike the garden scenes of Watteau or Manet, in which flesh and foliage work together to tell the story of an intimate bond.

Photography’s ability to capture and immortalize its subjects is a worthy consideration here. Freed’s nude models often resemble any number of Olympian gods and goddesses, whether they represent the forest, the grove, the flowers, or carry with them their sacred bird. Birds of Paradise is both mythology and ode to nature, captured by an artist’s lens that doesn’t shy from closing in on its subjects and centering on the melancholy notes that populate each portrait and each landscape.

Media

• Photography

ADVERTISE ON NYAB