“Diving in…to our own ‘skin’, into our world of feelings, perceptions, and thoughts. Diving in… gives the opportunity to accept what is within us as a whole – shadows and lights – in a constant search for harmonious flow. Diving in…is being able to surrender and let go of the mind’s actions to find oneness with the magical creation of life – being alive, the way to be, to observe, to watch, to become one, breathing in the wisdom of the universe, breathing out, giving back to Mother Earth our wisdom, and offering something in exchange. Diving in…to the depths of the ‘unknown’ structure, the Divine creation in each one of us, the energy which has no limits in time or space.”-Tal Eshed

Tanja Grunert is pleased to announce Dive In, a solo exhibition by Tal Eshed and the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Dive In expands on and deepens the themes of transformation and regeneration Eshed has been exploring throughout her oeuvre. Water, which the artist identifies with in her Hebrew name; Tal, “morning dew”, and Eshed, “waterfall”, is the means by which this alchemy takes place.

The sea, the site and cause of multiple transformations on the planet, figures prominently in the video “Sunrise Transformation”. Here a figure sits in the lotus position as the sun rises and bathes everything in light, transforming dark into light, cool into warm, and morning into daytime. The only consistent thing in each passing moment is the now.

In her first performance in a gallery in New York City, Eshed invites the viewer to dive into meditation with her and explore the timeless now. As a sexless, featureless, not so much body as entity, the artist invites the audience to witness her in meditation as a slice of eternity in the now, and to don a suit too and join the performance/meditation practice. As the artist meditates and becomes one with the space in the gallery, with the audience in the gallery and with the city and the country and the world and universe around her, what is microscopic is transformed into something larger than life, and what is larger than life, is reflected in the microcosm of the gallery and in the artist.

The artist writes: “This is an invitation to us humans to become more aware of what we all share with one another rather than what separates us from each other. What we all experience in the core of existence, in the very essence of our being, the place that connects us all to the heart, to feelings, emotions, energies in motion, is a direct connection to the source of light.”

A light sculpture is part of the installation. The mobile of the universe in the exhibition balances the earth and sky and water elements elsewhere in the exhibition and reminds us of the alchemy of transformation from physical to spiritual and of the energies that inhabit both realms of heaven and earth, physical and spiritual; as above, so below.

The viewer is encouraged to participate in the exhibition not only through meditation, but also by immersion in the contemplation of the objects. Imbued with the artist’s spirit and practice of meditation, each object in the exhibition offers the viewer a reflection into which they can contemplate the infinite and their place in it.

The role of the artist as divine creator, embodying the divine faculty for creation, is nowhere more evident than in the works of Eshed. Simple motifs like seashells take on gargantuan symbolism when the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence are cited in their simple beauty, as blueprints for the underlying unity in all forms and systems.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tal Eshed has a studio in New York City and Tel Aviv. She is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes photography, video and sound, installations, mixed media and light objects. She has had numerous solo shows and participated in many group exhibitions and festivals around the world. Her work is in private and public collections. A related video installation from this body of work will be shown this month at StArt Collection, Serge Tiroche de Leon’s, in Israel.

Tanja Grunert