Israeli artist Yigal Ozeri’s exhibition, ‘Americana,’ will be showing at Zemack Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv from November 13 until December 25. Ozeri has chosen to focus on the diner as an American icon, an institution whose image is engraved into the fabric of American life.
Ozeri aesthetically captures the most appealing retro elements, from the furniture to the lighting. The chrome accessories reflect pops of neon and bold lines of vibrant colors.
The diner has always been a sanctuary, a space that is both public yet personal. It was a refreshing oddity, loosen- ing social boundaries in a time when eating out was a privilege of the elite.
Americana elaborates on the past and present themes in American symbolism and explores the concept of the American Dream.
The series allows the artist to continue his exploration of identity and intimacy within a culturally shifting background.
Ozeri comes full circle in this exhibit, as he too immigrated to New York with his family in 1991, hoping to achieve the American Dream.
As an added component, Ozeri includes contemporary nuances of COVID 19, from a waitress wearing a face covering, to a thermometer check in the entrance, to a “barely there” sign in the window requiring patrons to wear masks.
Ozeri combines the new with the old, making this series multifaceted and complex.
He remains true to his painting approach, combining sharply detailed brushstrokes with abstract constituents.
Ozeri has shown extensively around the world, including solo exhibits in Spain, China, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Mexico.
His work is featured on the cover and included in the book Photorealism and the Digital Age. He is currently showing in a solo museum exhibition at the Flint Institute of Art through January 2022.
His work is also part of the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, the Jewish Museum in New York, the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian Art Museum in Washington, D.C, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Albertina in Vienna, among others.