At the heart of the exhibition by Revital Lessick, a resident of Haifa, is a graphic novella written and illustrated by the artist. The story focuses on a female character who interrupts her daily routine and sets out to free the wild animals confined in the municipal zoo located in Gan Ha’Em in Haifa. She believes the animals are kept in cages under harsh conditions. After overcoming obstacles and challenges, she completes her mission and returns to her former life.
The heroine of this bold and rebellious fantasy is Lessick’s alter ego, and her heroic/absurd mission to rescue the wild animals is an allegory for her struggle against her inner demons. As the artist observes the world around her, she raises ethical questions such as the value of liberty and the price of achieving it, as well as ecological issues such as air pollution and its impact on the quality of our lives.
The title “Mother’s Park” refers not only to the centrally located municipal park where the zoo is situated, but also to the symbolic meaning of this name. Like a mother, the zoo protects the animals and provides them basic living conditions, but the price of this protection is the loss of liberty.
The exhibition features four bodies of work that derive from one another and illustrate its theme from various perspectives. The diversity of technique, medium and scale enables the artist to delve more deeply into themes that concern her. Lessick moves between the different media with virtuoso skill and highly imaginative imagery, weaving a tale that encompasses reality and fiction, inner reflection and sensitive observation of the world around her.
The drawings depict the novella on which the exhibition is based, the animated films describe situations in which the artist as super heroine rescues wild animals, and the three-dimensional animal statues are at the same time realistic and fantastic. The animals appear to have stepped out of Lessick’s paintings. They are battered, on the verge of collapse, lacking vitality – a testament to their suffering. The central body of work in the exhibition consists of large paintings in which the influence of famous painters such as Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch, and Francisco Goya is evident.
Lessick depicts the heroine and her partner, the mouse, carrying out subversive actions at the zoo against a background of nocturnal and mysterious panoramic vistas. She expresses her sincere compassion and affection for the zoo animals by describing them in almost human terms. The artist invites the viewers to submerge themselves in the heroine’s fantastic voyage and be captivated by the profusion of overt and covert images.
Rina Gennusov
Exhibition Curator
