Heavy Air

Large hollow objects stand in the exhibition space, defined by contour only. Itai Ron-Gilboa "draws" boxes of various sizes in the space, in which diverse objects appear. He employs an idiosyncratic formal language, which includes a construction of thin black iron rods that convey vulnerability. The rods serve as a frame for a hollow, side-less box that allows entry and exit, thereby undermining the distinction between the private and the public.

The containers hold only what is absolutely necessary—no more than one object, and only the object for which they were built. Each object is placed with utmost accuracy in a container befitting its dimensions, in which it sustains a world all its own, living, growing, and existing autarkically. Ron-Gilboa fashions the relationship between a (variable) object and a geometric structure with a known shape, in which life is intensified and refined to its optimal form.

The objects work together and separately on three levels: incubation and development; growth; and breaking out (breaching the boundaries). Each phase stands alone, and at the same time, is intertwined with the others to create the whole work: interior and exterior, function and form are meshed together. The deviation from order and logic is the interruption.

The sculptural boxes interact with the space in which they are displayed. The objects are installed in the gallery in an orderly, yet non-systematic manner, and the viewer is invited to take part in the occurrences by wandering through them. The space arrangement seems to be based on small heterotopias, which function as closed spatial and temporal units. The set of objects in the boxes is complemented by a series of drawings, which hang on the gallery walls.

According to Gilboa, "absence is more powerful than presence," raising the question of meaning and purpose. His works offer an interesting view of the relationship between empty and full, creating simultaneous awareness of matter and its absence.