In Lihie Talmor’s work, the plural-abstract statutes appear as the result of an inquiry on several expressive elements: space, color, line, form, light and texture are some of the axes of navigation of her latest works. The notion of space provides the topographic milieu, the intensity of color suggests the slant of the expressive temperature, the linear sequence contributes to define the compositional structure, the light’s brilliance reveals the atmospheric iridescence, the texture’s sensuality projects the particularities of the material’s density, and the form finally crystalizes the plastic quality of her discourse.
To further expand the previous assessment, it should be added that our artist unfolds her proposal from the topographic milestone of a subjective landscape where the aerial or vertical orientation (from above) is combined with rapprochements either through a window or horizontally (from the front). This amphibological intention is promoted by the definition of a space which is never presented as something empty. On the contrary, it is a realm that allows to describe and discover the fascination derived from corporeal references and volatile atmospheres. For this reason, intangible space in Talmor turns into activated and reactivated visibility, or rather into a stage that fosters the coexistence of emerging energies, apparent condensations, eased up morphologies and fragmented territories. Thus, a space can be perceived that responds to a multiple and multipliable evidence: it is something both gaseous and solid; something concentrated, permeated and penetrated; something encapsulated, fragmented and agglomerated; something humid, dry and crystalline; something vitreous, petrous and transparent.
In order to reach this circumscribed and yet open sensation of space, the application of color is essential. In Talmor, the chromatic element assumes a leading role, because it effectuates the consonance of the whole proposal. Color comes alive through compacting and superimposed fields in accordance with certain compositional needs. The technique of additive application, as well as the controlled but nevertheless emotional directions of the brush strokes, make way for quite heterogeneous values, nuances and wefts. Thus, colors are able to convey without resorting to outbreaks, and motivate without making any concessions. Within this acceptation, each color perceived at first sight changes as a consequence of outcrops and transparencies proceeding from deeper layers: the original color abandons its primeval attributes to attain the virtue of shaded, unexpected and impregnated chromatics.
Amid the spatial and chromatic dimensions, the functions of line and form play a vital role. The line permits the initial, architectural foundation, and it also favors the definition of contours. In some cases it is the absolute origin of the picture; in other opportunities, it contributes decisively to the ultimate precision of the oeuvre. It works to profile the constructive couplings but, likewise, it allows the free fragmentation of the gesture: it assembles and dilutes, consolidates and grinds down, conforms and de-structures, simulates and conceals, and in the end manifests and hides itself in simultaneous terms and on the inset of the same surface. This ambivalent game promotes the hatching of forms, which in turn permit to define the consistency of masses, the distribution of spaces and the degrading of planes. In this context, it is clear that the notion of form in Talmor is not independent of the remaining expressive factors at play. The form is both cause and consequence of space, color and line.
In deep connection with the former, there is also light and texture. In Talmor, light attains spectral possibilities. It appears diffuse, concentrated, slippery, bright, opaque, dark… But most interestingly, it always fulfills its mission: to enhance the visual strength of the whole realization. Texture points in the same direction, coming up almost spontaneously, but with a persuasive scope that never dwindles. It becomes evident as real or virtual effectiveness, and as sensible and sensual tactility. Within this whole register of aesthetic plurality, Lihie Talmor proves her mastery over self-asserting plastic ingredients handled with an irresistible vocation for contemporariness.
Victor Guedez
El Universal
November 1988
In recent years, the work of Lihie Talmor has been like a progressive conquest of artistic space: from the two-dimensional plane of the etched page, with its illusionary spaces
Is it necessary to have the proper distance so as to see the full picture? And how does one know what the proper distance is?
In recent years, the work of Lihie Talmor has been like a progressive conquest of artistic space: from the two-dimensional plane of the etched page, with its illusionary spaces
Is it necessary to have the proper distance so as to see the full picture? And how does one know what the proper distance is?
It is not difficult to see in Lihie Talmor's work the expression of a sensitivity in its utmost development, that the artist knows how to communicate assertively
There exist an overriding need to distinguish between the ephemeral and the essential; the ephemeral wounds, the essential yet endures; until the day when the ephemeral will have corroded the essential, will have destroyed its very nucleus, its hard nucleus…
In a country where oblivion is who gathers the remains of the city, where the blanks of collective memory decide about the changes in power and the markets, the work of LIHIE TALMOR functions as a film of the subversive unconscious.
