Ruth Kestenbaum Ben-Dov is an acrobat, she is the acrobat featured in the series of paintings on view here. The acrobat-painter portrays herself swinging on a swing opposite the landscape, walking high above it on a tightrope, and viewing it in unconventional ways. The paintings in this exhibition are part of a series entitles “Land of Painting.”

These are landscape paintings that do not fully abide by the rules of the genre: we may notice that often the point of view is an aerial one, almost cartographic, which maps out the landscape from a great distance rather than looking out at it while facing the horizon. This is joined by other viewpoints on the landscape: seeing it from close up, in motion or in the darkness; the body of the painter (her feet, hands, etc.) bursts out from the foreground toward the landscape; the static view is transformed into movement, realized through imagery or through painterly rhythm (or even painterly acrobatics); the conventional division of near and far is transformed into upper and lower perspectives. And there are two added features: the religious element – the paintings sometimes include an image of the artist at prayer, with the landscape in the background, acting a backdrop or as the direction or focus of the prayer; and the element of danger – what looks like a landscape is actually the scene or the stage for action, often daring, enacted by the painter.

Many artists turned their gaze to acrobats and aerialists, but this gaze was always focused on the theatrical figure, because what captured those artists’ attention was the movement, the unusual pose, the eccentric figure, or the bohemian, entertainment element. In contrast, here the acrobatic lens enables Ben-Dov to paint the landscape – the landscape of her home region of Eshchar in the Galilee, and the landscape of Israel – while expressing her relationship with it. This unique perspective keeps returning to the view from on high, looking downward – hinting at God’s presence. Perhaps this is the reason that the painter removes her shoes in the “Land of Painting” series, as she succeeds, by looking from afar as well as from very near, in finding religious feeling or even sanctity in her connection with this place.

Ron Bartos
Text for the exhibition The Acrobat, at Alma – Home for Hebrew Culture, Tel Aviv, opening March 2022

Gallery wall with large painting on left with image of figure on tightrope over the landscape, and two small paintings at right with feet walking

Installation views

View of gallery with assorted paintings and patterned tiled floor.