STERN GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

Content - new works

The Hebrew version of the name of this show creates a pun that can mean either content or partially content. It may be a matter of conception but the fact is that terms of happiness or content are new in the work of Danny Back. During our 10 years of acquaintance, I have encountered different aspects of Danny through his work. At first he was a bachelor, addressing issues of identity. Today he is a husband and father. One may see that the corners of his life have rounded. Danny has come a long way since an exhibition in 1996, named "Not accepted by his beloved" - to the name of this show. Indeed, there is something round in this series - The face of the moon, natural elements and a soft palette.

The previous series shown here, "Benny and Joe", dealt with dismantling and assembling of a home. This activity was associated in the artists mind with the term "order". I think this term is a key to comprehension of his works. Through his art, Danny Back looks for grips, constancy and order in his life. For this purpose he collects images from his immediate surroundings. Anything inspires him – plastic tablecloths, souvenir statues, straw mats – kitsch items that are redeemed from their inferiority in his works. He combines binary elements – high and low culture, innocence and threat, soft and rough, happy and sad. The smile evident in this series is not a full smile. Only the mouth smiles while the eyes remain melancholic. The palette, too, is melancholic, hesitant, introducing doubt into the happiness.

The different elements in the works create surrealist crossbreeds from Backs' immediate surroundings and private associations. As both a father and teacher, he is exposed to childish images that appear in this series, as in previous works.

If we, the spectators, wonder what we connect to in these works, the answer is simple – to the truth. The artist does not attempt to flatter us by being communicative or vogue. Danny Back, as always, remains loyal to himself and we believe him.

Debby Luzia – curator