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That Red Temptation

Rivi Berger

Ariela Shavid

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That Red Temptation

We met some five years ago during a multi participant photography

project. We discovered we share similar ideas and opinions, that
the dialogue between us is fruitful and that we tend to reach
similar solutions to artistic questions. We decided to try an artistic
collaboration and we have been working together ever since. Often
we are asked what it is like to work together in art. We respond with
a question: what is it like to work alone?
What is it like to work without brainstorming, without discussions
on art, life, various artists, on what bothers us as women, as citizens,
as mothers, as Israelis. During our conversations we take notes of
topics that attract and challenge us and map the routes to visualize
them: studio photography, street photography, black and white, color,
wide or telephoto lens. The decision who pulls the cameras trigger
is marginal. We are both mothers of the photograph. It is a joint
pregnancy.
While working on one project, an idea for another will arise. Again an
idea to be brainstormed. We take pleasure in the small professional
tribe we have created and in the feeling that our joint creation is richer
than any each one of us would have accomplished on her own.

.2011 , , &
. "120x80 ,"100x100 , "80x80 , , ,

The solo exhibit That Red Temptation was shown at N&N AMAN GALLERY,
Tel-Aviv, September, 2011. All works, untitled, color photographs, 80 x 80cm,
100x100cm, 80x120cm.
Design: Dafna Graif :

One corner of the exhibit is dedicated to "leder", the leather-like

dried sheets of apricot, "the golden egg of the sun" according to the
Greeks. In "Ecosphere" during Passover of 2009 we briefly bridged
two opposites, both Middle East natives the deciduous apricot tree
which stands bare for most of the year but bears sweet fruit and the
olive tree, an evergreen that bears bitter fruit. On the "Israel Trail",
bordering Ein Hod/Ein Hawd, we hung "leder" strips on an olive tree
and invited visitors to stop and taste the candy.

That Red Temptation

heart of a perfectly pure white candy can lie a bitter, tooth-breaking

almond.
As adults we realize the sexual aspect of a phallic lollipop. In the 60's
a scandal broke out when 18 year old France Gall sang 'Les Sucettes'
('Lollipops'), Serge Gainsbourg's song about Annie who loves sucking
anise candy.
The bright, colorful candies, enlarged in the photographs way beyond
their natural size, unveil details unseen by the naked eye. The texture
is exposed, sometimes smooth and deterring, sometimes coarse
and sensual. The photographic treatment rescues the candies from
anonymity and attempts to endow them a status of architectural
structures, as if these are not perishable objects whose purpose is
immediate and quick pleasure.
Certain candies carry cultural significance. For example, the French
"dragee" candies, the Arabic "bid alhamam" ("doves' eggs") candies
and the Italian "confetti" candies are all handed out in weddings
in the Mediterranean. They attest to the bittersweet nature of
matrimony in the hope that sweetness will override bitterness.
The Candy Series references other artists' use of candies. Vik Muniz
incorporated candies as building blocks in some of his works. Felix
Gonzales Torres would leave a pile of candies in the corner of
galleries where he exhibited. The dwindling stack attested to his
struggle with Aids of which he eventually died.
Two photographs in the exhibit pay homage to Judy Chicago, the
pioneering feminist artist in the US in the 60's and 70's. Chicago
used the round shape of the "Lifesavers" in what appeared to be
an abstract geometrical work but actually concealed feminist
iconography.

That Red Temptation

The Candy Series is a tribute to that object of desire of our
childhood. Shiny, colorful, tangible, a candy lingers on our palate
and brings back memories of long ago. Memories of sweetness,
comfort and innocence that began early on and often
accompany us through adulthood.
A similar yearning is found in "The Candy Stand" by Agi Mishol:
THE CANDY STAND
Last night I saw Mr. Grosss candy stand in a dream.
Cups glowed like planets
around the fountains of (red and green) soda.
Thepink smell of candy
gave my heart a pang
as it once did.
The yellow banana-fish lay in rows in a box
shrouded in forever-powdered sugar,
licorice fish (I could never decide whether I liked them or not)
slowly blackened next to them.
More than anything else my tongue desired the red
sugar roosters
at the edge of the rustle
of cellophane wrappers.

Yet memories invoked by the sweet candy are sometimes

associated with harsh recollections. Often the sweet experiences
of childhood were accompanied by dark clouds. In the tale of
Hansel and Gretel a candy house conceals a dangerous witch.
A bright red candy apple may contain a rotten fruit and in the

That Red Temptation

Rivi Berger | Ariela Shavid