Gordon Gallery in Tel Aviv is currently presenting the first solo gallery exhibition in Israel featuring the work of Louise Bourgeois whose career extended over nearly seven decades. Lending its title from a key work of the artist, the exhibition Pink Days / Blue Days, co-curated by Michal Freedman and Amon Yariv, sets forth to stress the unimblical Gordian knot between Louise Bourgeois's body of work and the medium of printmaking.
Louise Bourgeois, PINK DAYS, 2009 © The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY
C-P: What is the significance of this Louise Bourgeois show in Israel?
Michal Freedman: This is the first gallery presentation of works by Louise Bourgeois - one of the most prominent artists of the 20th century – in Israel. We are honored to show it alongside her exhibition Louise Bourgeois: Twosome at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, curated by Jerry Gorovoy and Suzanne Landau.
Installation view of Louise Bourgeois: Pink Days / Blue Days at Gordon Gallery in Tel Aviv
C-P: What is the idea behind naming the show Pink Days / Blue Days?
Michal Freedman: Pink Days And Blue Days is the title of a Bourgeois sculpture in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Much like many of the works in our show, the piece refers to the artist's almost ideal childhood, the yearning to those 'Pink Days' before the impact of her parents' troubled marriage and her mother's death, ushering in "Blue Days". These colors are also symbolic of mainstream gender roles, gender always being a key component in Bourgeois's work.
Photo of Louise Bourgeois with her hand colored print “La Famille” in progress, 2009, By Alex Van Gelder, Art © The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY
C-P: Pink Days / Blue Days focuses solely on the printmaking work of Louise Bourgeois. Why did Gordon Gallery choose to curate a show based on this segment of Bourgeois’s oeuvre?
Amon Yariv: Bourgeois is known for her monumental sculptures and intricate fabric objects, but she has been making prints since the late 1930's and until her passing. We felt it was time to highlight this beautiful, more intimate side of her work. A large-scale exhibition of her graphic work will open later this month at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and many of the prints in our show are also part of the MoMA collection.
Louise Bourgeois, GIRL WITH HAIR, 2007 © The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY
C-P: There is a clear relation between psychoanalysis and printmaking in Bourgeois’s work, what major themes are presented within the 29 prints displayed in Pink Days / Blue Days?
Amon Yariv: The themes in Pink Days / Blue Days resonate in Bourgeois's entire oeuvre. She touches on gender, motherhood, the passing of time, family relationships, sexuality, love and loss.
Louise Bourgeois, LES FLEURS, 2009 © The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY
C-P: Lastly, on a more personal note, what does it mean to you getting to showcase the work of Louise Bourgeois? Amon Yariv: We can't presume to know what her feelings would have been, but we hope she would have been pleased to see the overwhelmingly positive response to her work over here. As for ourselves, we believe it truly is a special moment for the Israeli art scene to be able to experience her work, and we're so happy to bring this show forth.
Installation view of Louise Bourgeois: Pink Days / Blue Days at Gordon Gallery in Tel Aviv
Louise Bourgeois Pink Days / Blue Days is on view through October 28 at Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv.
www.gordongallery.co.il