Tamy Ben-Tor

Gewald/Baby Eichmann

Tamy Ben-Tor morphs into multiple and ever changing cartoonish and complex characters that speak truths and spout missives, both laughable and terrifying. In two new video works, Ben-Tor continues her insightful and biting exploration into Jewish identity, caricature and history. Combining many dialects to form a hybrid language, Ben-Tor’s speech is intentionally garbled, yet still evokes a sense of understanding through cliché. In Gewald, pastoral scenes and folk customs are paired with subversive images of children’s storybooks, while shapeshifting women sing passages from Primo Levi’s important Holocaust memoir and ramble about the “comfortable” life of Jews in Egypt. In Baby Eichmann, a fair-haired flutist floats about while tales of an “idiot” leader who turned out to be a madman are recounted.

Tamy Ben-Tor was born in Israel and currently lives and works in New York City. She has had solo shows at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Cubitt, London; Zach Feuer Gallery, New York; and has participated in group exhibitions at the Mori Museum, Tokyo; MOCA, Los Angeles; Reina Sofia, Madrid; as well as the PERFORMA 05 and PERFORMA 07 Biennials, New York. She will have upcoming exhibitions at Brown Gallery, London, and the Kunsthalle Winterthur, Switzerland, and will participate in the Bienniale of Sydney and Manifesta 4 this summer. Ben-Tor received her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts in 2006. The artist is currently represented by Zach Feuer Gallery (NY).

This program is sponsored by Sarah & Andrew Miller Meigs.

www.zachfeuer.com

Her dark mockumentaries twirl and spew tirades about bigotry, self-absorption and injustices that are twisted, inventive and captivating. Modern Painters