Israeli artist Boaz Aharonovitch’s photo-diary “Growing a Garden for an Unknown Lover” artfully documents a gardening project that took place in his studio. Incorporating photographic works and a single-channel video art installation, the archived garden is created from flowers, vegetation, and containers Aharonovitch collected from his immediate surroundings.
He cultivated his plants, staged them to create the most appealing images and photographed them, hoping the images will attract an unknown lover. The outcome of the process is a meditation on the fleeting nature of the garden as a metaphor for the passage of time and longing. Curated by Aya Goshen and presented in conjunction with the Friends of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, the free public exhibition opens on January 23rd and runs through February 26, 2020, at ZAZ10TS, an ongoing cultural initiative that integrates art into the office building at 10 Times Square (also known as 1441 Broadway).
Aharonovitch’s curiosity about gardening began with a one-month project in 2011 that resulted in an art book and video work. Since the initial photo journal, his fascination with the subject and horticulture knowledge continues to deepen and has inspired a large body of work, becoming an integrated part of his practice. “Growing a Garden for an Unknown Lover” exhibits highlights from this ongoing series.
“Presenting the works in the context of the lobby of an office building in the hyper urban environment of Times Square emphasizes the slow, organic, and intimate process that the works depict,” said Aya Goshen, exhibit curator.
“Displaying an exhibit of a growing garden brings nature into the building’s community and provides workers, visitors and those passing by the opportunity for a private moment of contemplation and pause from the urban pace of New York City,” said Tzili Charney, founder of the ZAZ10TS lobby gallery concept presenting art and culture to the general public on an ongoing basis.
For more information about the exhibit, please visit here.
