AMIR GUBERSTEIN
LAMENTATIONS
JANUARY 18, 2019 - MARCH 10, 2019
FIERMAN presents LAMENTATIONS, the first solo exhibition in New York of Israeli-born Amir Guberstein. Following an expressionist tradition that explores the world through painting and mark making, Amir Guberstein examines the contemporary perspective fueled by both personal and universal Jewish history and mythology.
Each of Guberstein’s paintings centers around a single gesture that is made with black and white gesso, mixed with sand from Guberstein’s hometown in Israel as well as from the West Bank, Palestine. Indecipherable scribbles of words then streak across the surfaces, transcribed from The Book of Lamentations (or Eicha, a series of poems describing, in lyrical detail, the desolation of Jerusalem), and expressive marks of bright pastels complete the compositions mounted on canvas.
Guberstein’s paintings act as a plastic representation of the emotions stemming from this history, rippling through the traditions and culture passed onto him, tracing back to all Jews’ biblical ancestry. The weight of this shared history has been a force in connecting the Jewish community for millennia; Guberstein’s return to this topic in our time explores its ramifications for today’s world.
Amir Guberstein (b. 1985, Ra’anana, Israel) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Guberstein holds an MFA and BFA from the University of the Arts, Berlin. Recent exhibitions include SAMUEL Gallery, Chicago; New Art Projects, London; Caves Art Center, Taipei. In conjunction with LAMENTATIONS Guberstein has released a new eponymous artist book, available for purchase at the gallery.
