One Night Only, Mark Your Calendar
Join me for my unconventional exhibition in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on April 1st. Expect something different.
Note #1: I know exhibitions don’t usually have a cover fee, but it’s not a usual exhibition. It takes place in one of the best jazz clubs in the world, with top-tier musicians performing.
Note #2: If I had to come up with a description for this exhibition, I would say something like—“A celebration of love. To Eviatar, for the jazz community, to Ornithology jazz club, and to birds.”
Note #3: Ornithology = The study of birds.
Fun fact: The name of the jazz club came from the song Ornithology, written by Charlie Parker, who, in the jazz scene, got the nickname Bird.
Note #4: In the invitation, you can see a mixture of oil crayons, oil pastels, soft pastels, and graphite on paper. Why? Keep reading.
How this came to be:
Like most of my work, this exhibition was created without planning and as a result of the following events:
As part of my attempts to make a living, I planned to fill a nice sketchbook with many animal tattoo flashes. I took that book with me everywhere so I could continue drawing but also show it if someone asked. Naturally, when someone asked, I was at Ornithology (I spend most of my nights out - there).
The owner, Rie, happened to see one of the bird pages and simply offered the idea of doing a bird exhibition there. I asked for a deadline, she said April—that’s it.
I think it was around October when we set that date, and since then, I’ve been obsessed. I found out there are about 9,600 species (for comparison, all the mammals combined(!) are around 5,000)! Can you imagine?
Something else also happened in these past months. I stopped doubting myself (more accurately and less subtly—I stopped giving a fuck). I decided to get out of my comfort zone and, despite what I imagined my audience might say, explore new mediums and techniques. I did not follow the classic academic rules—or even my own, for that matter. I went places I never went before. I mixed mediums that one might not mix. If it’s already an unconventional exhibition, I’m allowed to use unconventional techniques. It’s not easier, I might add. Actually, the opposite.
As a result of that, at this moment, I have four unfinished artworks (usually, I would produce 15 in that duration of time). It’s pretty safe to assume it’s going to be a small series—but definitely different from anything I’ve done before.
Hope to see you there,
Shani