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An acute sense of yearning permeates the ten artworks showcased in Dov Talpaz’s debut exhibition at SARAHCROWN in Tribeca. The exhibition, The Sound of Longing, was thoughtfully composed by curator Sarah Corona, who selected small to medium-sized oil paintings characterized by their strikingly vivid hues. The modest dimension of the paintings enhances a sense of an intimate space, while the rich, dynamic colors seem to resonate with a loud auditory experience.
Sarah Corona observes that Talpaz’s canvases offer more than meets the eye, ranging from influences of classic Japanese cinema to the vastness of desert mountains, suggesting a hidden complexity beyond the apparent simplicity of his geometric terrains which read as recollections of landscapes in Israel and America. His series of abstracted human figures, informed by cinematic, literary, and personal narratives, exaggerate color use and distill figures to their essence.
Two paintings, Holding It Together and The Blessing of the Wrong Son, draw upon Biblical texts. Talpaz interprets these stories as poetic insights into the human condition beyond any specific religious or cultural ownership or literal heritage, whether Jewish or otherwise. “I perceive biblical stories as poems that reveal aspects of the self,” he says. They are, to him, universal moral tales rather than tools of fear that he says often underpin organized religion. Instead, these pieces perhaps contemplate faith as a personal quest to confront the root of fear itself.
The artist’s relocation from Israel to New York City at 22 is metaphorically captured in his Horse Rider series, specifically in Holding the Mountain and Under the Moon. These pieces are intimate narratives, inspired by the people he encountered along the way. Talpaz says he longs for resolution and mental peace.
“Four generations lie in this sepulcher,
as poor as the hovel of a water carrier,
and tablets, moss-green tablets,
sing of them in Bedouin prayer.”
– Isaac Babel, from Red Calvary.
Dov Talpaz (b. 1977) is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Talpaz was born in Texas and grew up in Israel and the US. At age 22, Talpaz moved to NYC to study painting at the New York Studio School with artists Mercedes Matter and Rosemarie Beck. In 2003, Talpaz worked at Paul Resika’s studio for seven years. Matter, Beck, and Resika were all important influences on Talpaz’s evolution as a painter. Dov Talpaz has exhibited locally and internationally, including recent solo and group shows at 601 Artspace (NYC), Slag Gallery (NYC), EGMS Studio (Austria), SARAHCROWN (NYC), Triumph Gallery (Chicago), Loftis Studio (NYC), William Holman Gallery (NYC), Fire Barn Gallery (MI), and Muskegon Museum of Art (MI), among many others. His paintings were presented at Untitled Art Fair (Miami), Dallas Art Fair (Texas), ArtPrize (MI), and Spring/Break Art Show (NYC). His works are part of private and public collections worldwide.
The show runs through November 25, 2023 at SARAHCROWN New York’s Tribeca location. A conversation between artist Dov Talpaz, gallerist and curator Sarah Corona, and art historian and writer Jennifer Samet will be held in November 16, 2023 . An exhibition catalog with an essay by Jennifer Samet will be released then.