Ori Gersht

I recently visited Ori Gersht in his studio. What a fantastic work space! Although he was a little reticent to fully discuss his work, it was exciting to see some work-in-progress and a few clips from his impressive, painterly photographs. I was really surprised to see that he'd managed to get permission to show his 'explosion' film in Times Square NYC, given their sensitivities over such imagery.

Here's a few bits and pieces...

A still from Gersht's piece based upon Cotan's famous still life painting from 1602 - here with a bullet exploding through a pomegranate though! Here's the film - beautifully lit. 

Other film work often references paintings; here, Gersht's interest in Dutch still life paintings manifested itself in similarly filmed high-speed photography explosions. The flowers were frozen using liquid nitrogen, allowing for them to shatter in such dramatic fashion - here's a 'making of' slideshow:

Installation in Times Square:


It was a shame Gersht wasn't more open about in discussing his work, as there's some really complex issues at play above simple transcription; often revolving around his Israeli heritage, the holocaust, and other key historical events and issues. A few years ago, at the Photographers Gallery, I saw his film of falling trees, 'The Forest' - below - filmed in the Ukraine, on a site of Nazi atrocities against the Jews. The peace of the forest is shattered by the creaks and groans of falling trees, which somehow retain a beauty through the quality of the photography.