Khen Shish: Shut Up!
Khen Shish’s expressionist works are moving, thought-provoking, and galvanizing. In the words of the writer Doron Braunshtein, her works "make you want to go out and do something [...] to act."
In the course of her career, Shish has created installations, video works, and collages, but painting has always remained her main form of expression. Her works feature recurring motifs and a distinct color palette in black, white, pink, and gold. She does not shy away from bold colors; in her own words, she is "not afraid to touch beauty." The combination of tangible, expressionist brush strokes and delicate touches is a staple of her unique artistic style.
The current installation is based on a series of twelve boldly colored ceramic masks, their mouths gaping and contorted. The masks pay homage to the twelve Neolithic stone masks discovered in the Judaean Mountains and displayed at the Israel Museum in 2014 as part of the exhibition Face to Face.
It was no coincidence that the artist was drawn to their magical, pagan, ritualistic charm; her own artistic language builds upon graphic representations borrowed from ancient worlds of mysticism and enchantment. The power of the mask comes from the entity it represents. Once a mask is worn, it not only hides the wearer's face but also imbues his or her spirit with its power.
The roots of Shish’s fascination with ancient mystics can be traced back to her childhood in Safed, where she used to walk the valleys among the tombs of righteous figures. Mysticism and spirituality permeate her artistic works and express her perpetual desire to reach out and touch the divine.
For her current exhibition, Shish has created a space of aggression pointed both inward and outward, where the body is displayed as a disaster zone. Gaping mouths symbolize unheard voices and silent roars, in a determined plea to do away with language. The shape of the open mouth echoes the skull of the innocent victim. The howling-mouth motif goes back to ancient Greece as a symbol of hysteria and loss of rationality. The twisting orifices invoke a strong sense of violence and feelings of harsh pain.
The mask is used metaphorically, as a means of subverting the feminine appearance enforced by patriarchal society. By disguising herself, the woman is transformed from object to subject and distances herself from the male spectator. The gaped, lipless mouth of the woman-mask, in all its sensuality and ugliness, challenges the exquisite yet perplexing smile of the Mona Lisa, the ultimate symbol of female beauty. Sigmund Freud once said that the Mona Lisa wears her smile like a mask.
Masks are placed upon makeshift scarecrows, ritualistic figures that seem to leer at the visitors or protect them from spirits and demons. The installation becomes a kind of temporary temple that exists but for a fleeting moment in time. The paintings on the walls complement the masked scarecrows and create the backdrop against which they are allowed to exist. Eye-like motifs watch over those who enter the exhibition space. They scrutinize the visitors, yearning to possess them and judge their souls for what they are worth.