The exhibition Notes to the wind encircled around the central large scale painting, in which a high tower is isolated, standing in a landscape full of hundreds tiny pieces of paper flying all over. A precise look will discover that these multiple paper notes are made in a "negative space" way. They are actually holes in the landscape. The painter placed hundreds pieces of scotch-tape over the canvas, painted the tower and the landscape, and only as the last act of the painting removed the scotch- tape. As a result of removing the scotch-tape there is an exposure of the "behind the scenes" of the painting. Through the paper notes one can see the basic drawing on the canvas, and the foundations of the painting.
In the two works titled Screen-lighthouse, embroidered screen is blocking the view. The artificial beautiful landscape which is painted over the screen is hiding the beauty of the natural seascape which opens behind it. There is no access, the screen is spreading and covering almost all the open space of the canvas.
A lone traveler is standing on a huge rock in the work Boulder. His back is turned to the viewer, and it's impossible to see his face. There is a sense of drama, but the viewer cannot see what the traveler is watching. The viewer is doomed to see only small part of the picture. The tension between the seen and unseen is the essence of the paintings.
Matan Ben Tolila was born in 1978 in Israel, where he currently lives and works. The work of Matan Ben Tolila focuses on large scale landscape paintings. His paintings linger on moments in which reality and abstraction co-exist. The scenery appearing in Ben Tolila's paintings contains temporary structures of different kind and function, these are constructed with simple, almost schematic elements.
The work methods of Matan Ben Tolila include acts of repetition, distortion, filling and subtraction. He investigates issues of mobility, stability and control while at the same time the lack thereof, suggesting several possibilities simultaneously. Amongst these appear an implied human presence, achieved by painting history fragments, remnants of fires and bodies of water. The temporary structures spread out and conquer the landscape while at the same time blocking it, dictating scale, perspective and narrative. Though his landscapes seem to describe nowhere specific, they reflect detachment, anxiety and constant tension which characterize life in Israel.
The work of Matan Ben Tolila has been displayed in solo and group exhibitions:
Journeys, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Moon-Walks, Noga Gallery, Tel-Aviv
Shesh-Besh, Petach-Tikva Museum of Art
The Same Sea/A Different Coast, Galerie61, Bielefeld, Germany and many more.
Ben-Tolila holds an MA by the Art department, Bezalel academy of Art & Design, Jerusalem and has been awarded the Excellence in Painting in 2006 by the academy, as well as the Excellence of the America-Israel cultural foundation award in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Artist website: www.matanbentolila.com