TAL AMITAI-LAVI

The common denominator linking all the images in the exhibition "Aleph for Ohel [tent]; Bet for Bayit [house]" is childhood games: a sandcastle, a tower made of Playmobil action figures, toy bricks, illustrated notebook pages, a ring of cards, an origami boat, a memory game box, and an origami fortuneteller (“cootie catcher”).
The return to childhood as a source of inspiration allows Tal Amitai Lavi a tangible and immediate engagement with highly charged contents, offering the viewer a silent, poignant glimpse into realms of the past. Despite the ostensibly innocent appearance of the objects, feelings of anxiety and doubt arise. These are embodied in the mantra meant to reassure, “Happyending,” which ironically underscores the existence of fear; in the fragility of the sandcastle — representing another form of home — which could be wiped out in an instant; and in the frail paper boat bound to crash onto the waves of the text, “Something is going to happen.” This sense of transience is heightened by the engagement with the origami fortuneteller as a childhood game that determines destiny in a completely random manner.
Camouflage and masquerade are also manifested in Amitai-Lavi’s meticulous technique. Nearly all the works comprise castings, handicrafts, and painstaking, realistic painting. The objects appear entirely "real," but they are actually "as if" — a perfect imitation.