Making his way from Los Angeles all the way to Israel, Gary Baseman prepares for an upcoming solo exhibit at toy store and gallery Urbanix. Entitled "The Sacrificing of the Cake” we hope to see the erotic and sexual characters that we have all grown to love by Mr. Baseman. He is also featuring a new dragon character dubbed “Uga” which means cake in Hebrew for this exhibit. [Via Arrested Motion]
The Sacrificing of the Cake, is not about birthdays or cakes. It is about self examination, observation of the past, correction and change. In a picturesque childish language and a sweetish color palette, Baseman displays a series of new works, acrylic paintings along with color pencil drawings on paper pages from an American book for physical education for boys and man from the twenties. He presents in his works the image of the dragon "Uga" (meaning "cake" in Hebrew), slaughtered again and again by feminine nude images, a sort of erotic girls or nymphs, radiating sexuality – an allegory to the artist’s struggle against his private demons from the past.
The narrative of Baseman’s painting indicates in an almost hidden way, his struggle to release himself from the heritage of his parents, east European Holocaust survivors that raised him according to the
"American Dream".The dragon’s slaughtering, symbolically entitles Baseman to release himself from the burden represented by his parent’s world perception, allowing him to re-mold his individual path.
Urbanix
72-3-5250601
45 Sheinkin St
Tel-Aviv, Israel
