Curator: Hagai Ulrich

"Artichokes" is a solo show by Larissa Miller at "Bread and Roses Gallery" at the space located in Ma'an Workers' Organization at 45 Aliya Street in Tel Aviv. The show is a continuation of the artist's participation at "Performances for Social Nearing"*, a special event held as part of the "Bread and Roses 16" show, where performance works were intended to enhance the interaction between performers and spectators. In her event at the show, titled “Close Portrait”, Miller stayed for two days at the Sadnaot Haomanim space and painted portraits of the Bread and Roses community and its visitors.

Miller's motivation for a painting, on paper, cardboard, or canvas, is in the direct and swift impression of the object – an action that ends as soon as the particular encounter ends. For this reason, and alongside the intention to make a visual acquaintance with the object, in Miller's paintings, there are visual remnants of the documentary as well as a subjective representation. At one moment her brushstrokes are giving intelligibility to the form and in another moment the strokes are general or crude as if meant to quickly bring the open encounter to its closure with the minimum effort necessary in order for a memory of its origination to be visually evident. Seemingly, the foreground in her paintings might look superficial or shallow, as the acrylic or oil paints literally receive the grayish hue of the cardboard surface. Accordingly, the objects in the paintings may appear trivial: vegetables, still life, people, food, interiors, view from the window of her studio, and paintbrushes. However, like with Miller’s poems, the paintings bring to the foreground the seemingly mundane contemplations and the existential insights dealing with a subjective perception of the changing moment, as well as evidence of immigration experiences.