EFA STUDIO PROGRAM: ALUMNI
Shai Zurim
The main concern of my work is the paralyzing state of our emotional life. Narcissism, egoism, boredom, neurosis and anxiety—all these struggle to characterize a life lacking in purpose, passion, enthusiasm and a sense of community - in short a life of spiritual vacuity. I believe art should provide new communicative possibilities so that we regain our power to act.
I challenge myself to be the seismograph of the social, cultural, and political reality that surrounds us. The same commitment drives my response to the changing nuances of everyday life. This awareness dictates not just a display of political opinions, but an effort to transform our clichés and our banalities through small gestures and through materials taken from our rubbish.
In order to ground high art in the ordinary, everyday things and reveal human experience, I work with the mobility and quickness of drawing. I assemble common and throwaway materials into spontaneous sculptural situations, or temporary installations and murals. I employ a mixture of styles, voices and media. I treat each project as a totally new experience.
I compose notions of time and space that cannot be told by a traditional narrative. I suggest bits and pieces of work that do not represent a united whole, but restore meaning as a composed unity of separate elements. The many parts don't have an overall cohesive storyline behind them; rather they mesh and suggest a meaning according to the poetic potential of a non-linear progression.
