In the Saddle

Moshe Givati's solo exhibition, "Late Paintings," is a golden opportunity to trace his life story, how he paved his conflict-ridden path in the art world, and what his story with horses is all about

Moshe Givati has painted since his early twenties. A solo exhibition of his works, "Late Paintings," opened last week at the Tel Aviv Artists' House (curator: Hana Kofler). Givati began his artistic career in the early 1960s in the young artists' exhibition "Tazpit." The exhibition was held at the Tel Aviv Museum's Helena Rubinstein Pavilion to the displeasure of the Museum's director at the time, Dr. Haim Gamzu. It was conceived as a protest against Gamzu and his artistic line. Ever since, art and protest have remained intertwined in Givati's oeuvre.

Gamzu did not attend the opening. According to Givati, he disallowed the use of lighting in the designated space throughout the show's length. Nevertheless, the gauntlet tossed down at the Museum gave rise to another exhibition of "young" artists, this time under the official auspices of the institution. When Gamzu's attempt to curate the show ran aground, Raffi Lavie was called to the rescue. This was the beginning of the tense relationship between Givati and Lavie, which would continue for many years. Givati sums up the period in his typical nonconformist manner: "More than a plastic artist, Raffi was an artist of politics. He was heir to the Czar, Zaritsky."

Givati's next station was the 10+ group. "I was not one of the 10+ founders; I belonged to the '+'," says Givati, trying to encapsulate his role in the group. "At a rather early stage I realized that this was not a group in the artistic sense, but rather a group of interested individuals." Givati participated in some of the shows staged by the group, among them the textile exhibition held at the Maskit shop on Ben Yehuda Street, Tel Aviv, under the auspices of Ruth Dayan.

Givati recalls that he donated the works painted on fabric to the sewing workshop at his kibbutz, Sha'ar Ha'amakim, and they were made into dresses for the female members. The group's last exhibition in which he participated was "10+ on Venus" at Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv. Even though he was not invited to take part in the show, Givati arrived at the gallery during its mounting and installed his work in absolute defiance of the curator, Raffi Lavie.

            Later along the way, Givati also collaborated in the Nesher Quarry project with Itzhak Danziger and Joav BarEl. That project resulted in a large series of works which Givati exhibited at Mabat Gallery, Tel Aviv, but the Nesher plant rehabilitation project itself remained a mere theoretical experiment, leaving him greatly disappointed and in heavy debt.

The Conquering Youth

Still and all—the critics praised. The young man who came from Kibbutz Sha'ar Ha'amakim won over the columnists of the daily press, who identified in his paintings "formal concentration, a personal idiom, and painterly culture." Givati, who attests that he never studied in any formal institution, says: "On several occasions I went to Marcel Janco's drawing classes at Oranim Seminary, but other than that—I am wholly self-taught."

He was enrolled for studies at the Avni Institute, Tel Aviv, and in Paris, but only on paper. In effect he devoted the bulk of his time to incessant practical work in the studio, which was usually his living quarters too: whether in the kibbutz, in Tel Aviv, or later in New York.

Givati spend nearly ten years in New York (until 1982), during which he lived at the mythological Chelsea Hotel, set up a thriving print workshop, wandered on to the ultra-Orthodox Crown Heights section, and joined the Lubavitcher court. The long sojourn in New York interrupted his budding career in Israel. Returning to Israel after a long silence, he was still ultra-Orthodox. Since then he has abandoned religious observance and relocated in various parts of Tel Aviv. Today he lives and works almost constantly in his flat on Ben Zion Boulevard. A large-scale retrospective of his work was staged at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2006, concluding four decades of intense artistic practice (curator: Hana Kofler).

As for his recent exhibition, he speaks very little about it. With a smile he says that he called the exhibition "Late Paintings" rather than "Last Paintings," "so that people won't think I have stopped painting." The exhibition consists of ten monumental canvases painted during 2008, and an additional piece created in 2009.

Frozen Childhood on Horseback

Each of the canvases bears an implied image of a horse frozen in mid-gallop. The horse image takes us back to Givati's early childhood. Givati was born in Israel, but his mother was widowed of his father before he was born. Since life for a single mother in pre-State Israel was most difficult, the mother decided to send the young Moshe to his grandmother's home in Khotin, Poland.

At 5, Givati was returned to Israel. Unable to speak Hebrew, painting became his major means of communication with his surrounding, and horses were among the predominant motifs he painted. Kofler notes that horses became permanent occupants of Givati's works during his long sojourn in New York too.

The inspiration for the horses, which had already appeared in his works in 1976, was drawn from the play Equus staged on Broadway at the time. It tells the story of a psychiatrist in a small hospital in the south of England, treating a teenager who committed a horrifying crime at the stable where he worked, blinding six horses with a spike during a psychotic attack. The analysis uncovers various events in the boy's life, such as the encounter with Jill Mason in the stables.

While Givati's work rejects narrativity altogether, one cannot ignore the horse's key role in both his paintings and the inspiring play. An ambiguous sign dubbing dark silences, or a story behind which hides a greater story, the horse pierces the canvases with powerful coloration.

Givati's horses run wild on the canvases like mythological beasts. The reds, blues, and greens generate a jolting effect which may be read as an attempt to describe a mental state. Ultimately, the large lumps of color deconstruct into an abstract raw image. Within the expanding paint and unidentified forms, each viewer is invited to plunge into the canvas depths and find his own horse.