Oren Eliav

The Death of Lucretia, a small fifteenth-century painting at the heart of this exhibition, served as the starting point for Israeli artist Oren Eliav's installation. The painting portrays the dramatic moment when Lucretia summons her husband, her father, and two of their friends and tells them that she has been raped by the son of Rome’s tyrannical ruler. She calls upon them to avenge her and then takes her own life. Whether historical or mythological, this story appears in Livy’s History of Rome as the trigger for a chain of events that resulted in the overthrow of the king, abolition of the monarchy, and establishment of the first Roman republic.

Even though The Death of Lucretia was painted after the introduction of scientific perspective, it is spatially unresolved and assumes multiple and conflicting viewpoints. Eliav further unsettles the original painting by cropping, distorting, and duplicating parts of it, treating it as raw material. Each work portrays parts of the scene from a different angle and in a different mode of painting. The sprawling, polyphonic installation gives rise to new perspectives and interpretations, drawing our attention to that which lies between seeing and believing.

The exhibition invites visitors to join Lucretia’s witnesses, watching the elusive moment when past image and contemporary painting meet, and when Lucretia crosses over from life to death.

Oren Eliav, Lucretia, Oil on canvas,  Photo: Elad Sarig

Oren Eliav, Disappearance, Oil on canvas,  Photo: Elad Sarig

Oren Eliav, Descent, 2017, Oil on canvas, Photo: Elad Sarig