David Adika | Mahogany, photographs, 2003
Curator: Yaffa Braverman
July 5, 2003 - Oct. 18, 2003
Six small sculptures – elephant, giraffe, rhinoceros, deer, male figure, and female figure – tiny figurines masterfully sculpted out of light-colored wood and painted in dark hues of brown and black. Their sculptural language is “crude,” and the formulation – symbolic to the point of stereotyping. These are tourist souvenirs from South Africa bought on a conventional visit to the local safari. At some point (in time and place), these objects were placed on a shelf in the artist’s parents’ Jerusalem home, and became pivotal elements in the Adika family’s inventory of visual representations.