Yoav Shmueli
“Ma’ariv” Newspaper, 11.2.2000
Adi Nes’ photographs of
soldiers capture and reinforce with great talent that bitter-sweet &
obscured feeling of one who has sufficiently distanced himself, both
chronologically and emotionally, from a period of shattered innocence. Nes flings us unprotected into stormy,
freezing waters, sketching this fragment of dream reality in the strong olive
color of army uniforms, the soft pink of youthful flesh, the black of deep
darkness, and in the white-yellow stains of light, as if he were a modern
Caravaggio.
Nes’ condensation, his
photographic minimalism intensify the strong colors and the multitude of
details: every crease of clothing, scar on a young face, spot on a lip or line
of sweat along the hairline. Nes draws
out such beauty and innocence (he
uses beauty to devastate), such intense atmosphere, youthful eroticism, and
content which is layered with experiences, memories and loaded private moments.
For the most part, Nes’
exhibition in the Dvir Gallery is prodigious; he is, in my opinion, the
most talented and fascinating photographer in Israel today; this rare & triumphant
combination of a loaded fragment of reality created by staging it down to the
smallest and most attentive detail, produces a sort of extreme and piercing
hyper realism; the photographs will forever appear larger than life, poetic and
so very beautiful, stretching far beyond reality. Everything, from the worthy
choice of setting, that is, the landscape, to the actor-models, the abundant props planted naturally
throughout the scene, as if called for and yet sometimes also like clues from a
crime scene, as well as the spotlights which mask and envelop everything, and
obtain the desired ambiance.
The atmosphere oscillates
between sadness, romance and tranquility, as in the photograph of the
resting-sleeping soldier on the bench, intense masculinity as in the photograph
of soldiers sleeping in the bus, necks drooping , warmth and intimacy, as in
the photograph of the soldiers sitting relaxed in the dark, shaded tent.
Nes takes his version of
the mythological photograph of Yossi Ben-Hanan waving his weapon in the Suez
Canal in the direction of exaggerated macho, drama and glamour, empowering the
myth. This photograph is taken in
the Officers’ Pool in the Golan Heights. Here, Nes achieves a fantastic and
bewildering visual effect when he depicts the water as black.
Nes’ personal
interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” depicts an army meal
which takes place on a long dining table. The atmosphere is clear and
crisp, enhancing the many components of the situation, the numerous soldiers,
their alert and intensive preoccupation during the meal, the culinary army offering on the
table, and the pairs and pairs of legs under the table, in heavy army boots.
In each case, the
observer’s connection to the photograph, to the situation depicted, is
immediate, strong, hypnotic. On one hand, the photograph is demanding, and on
the other, it is generous, giving. Aside from the fact that Nes is of course an
astute anthropologist of the local Israeli, he is mostly interested in the aesthetic aspect of that
existence. Essentially, Nes will always remain the producer, the aesthete, the
dreamer, forever distant from the reality he has created. He will remain
unsatisfied, observing from a distance,
yearning to touch – this being part of the painful homosexual existence
- this gap between desire and the hallucination, and the realistic alienation
which produces a barrier.
Nes got much of his
knowledge of art from Carravaggio. Hence, the beauty portrayed here is
innocent, tender, erotic, romantic, but not perfect, always slightly tainted, a
mixture of beauty and wound, or even ugliness: strength and weakness.
The piercing,
stomach-churning moment in the photographs arrives with the understanding that
the sleeping soldiers are in fact also dead soldiers. With his fantastic
ability, Nes presents a death which humbles, but it is also relaxed, at one
with its fate, almost romantic, and painfully beautiful. This is a truly rare
photographic achievement.