Adar Aviam’s work scrutinizes Israeli articles of faith that are often taken for granted: it probes local society’s ideal of belonging and the sense of comfort associated with it, and examines the institutions that promote an experience of total identification with the country. The sense of estrangement and the intentional distancing created by Aviam’s works allow for a deconstruction of myths, narratives, figures, and objects that are an accepted part of everyday life in Israel. Gazing at these themes through an ironic lens, Aviam infuses them with an unsettling, macabre, and grotesque quality, while magnifying their ridiculous qualities.
Aviam’s paintings are shaped by a cynical concern with stories of military bravado, the macho mentality, and local aesthetics: “I have no heroic stories to tell,” he states, “and this really creates a sense of emptiness and of missing out. I never took command under fire, no one ever died in my arms, I never sighed with relief after an encounter with the enemy […] But I did see a dead Arab, and that too is something. I hope this leaves some kind of residue. That he’ll come back in my dreams, that I’ll suffer from long and unexplained silences, that I too will have a story to tell.”
This anti-heroic attitude, which is suffused with bitter humor and intentional pathos, gives rise to a disillusioned critique that bespeaks an experience of deep conflict and discontent.

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