Melancholia My Love - My first solo exhibition

Givatayim Theatre | Feb 2018

In Feb 2018 I had my first solo exhibition, curated by Doron Polak in the Givatayim Theatre called Melancholia My Love

Here are the things Polak wrote about he exhibition:

In a meticulous realistic style, Anat Yohanan paints dramatic scenes that seem to be drawn from the world of cinema. The heroines of her paintings are beautiful, attractive women, who's body language catches the artists eye, and receives an impressive visual translation in her works.

Yohanan shapes this essentially figurative style of painting in a predominantly monochromatic color palette. Taking us back to a romantic, loved period, the paintings present us with a world that exists in and off itself, who's scenes seem like literary quotes. At times this world seems to be completely removed from the sphere of current events and the mundane, naturalist reality,

in which we all take part every single day. This tension between the imaginary world in the paintings around us creates a poignant and ironic drama.

The portrayal of the figures in the paintings alludes to the atmosphere and feelings that accompany their lives. The beautiful women are depicted in a state of bated anticipation, in caffes, at the train station, on the street corner. This ambiguous and unstable situation engenders in the viewer a sense of mystery and sometimes even uneasiness. On the other hand, this use of a melancholy, changing, and unstable state creates a unique interest and builds a dramatic situation that makes the works so special.

Yohanan, depicts dancers, paying special attention to their facial features and their inner world. While the renowned classic paintings of dancers by the great Impressionist like Degas or Renoir carefully portrayed the dreamy virtuoso language of dancing – Yohanan explores the dancers inner and personal world. Her paintings depict the dancer's relation to their body, while other paintings present their dancing shoes. For some reason, it seems that this familiar world of perfection and ambition is translated and presented differently in the images of Yohanan's dancers.

In a unique series of works, Yohanan portrays the legendary field actress Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was a controversial figure a daring and s

turning classic beauty and independent, self-made woman. In Yohanan's paintings Marilyn Monroe's face if often hidden behind glasses. This breath-taking woman, depicted in the painting with almost photographic accuracy, often seems to be hiding something from us, the viewers, and her story remains ambiguous and enigmatic to us.

Anat Yohanan's portraits of women demonstrate exemplary precision and true virtuosity. Perhaps the most striking of all her portraits is

the self- portrait. The features reveal a depth of sincerity, a direct expression that faces the viewer, forming a private dialog that remains open to interpretation. She manages to create in this realistic and alienated, supposedly objective, narrative style, a language that is truly personal and authentic. Her paintings offer a different, more profound option to beautiful and aesthetic paintings: going deeper into the more empathetic and internal layer, which requires us to look again

at each of the works.

The new exhibition at the Givatayim theatre takes the viewer on an enigmatic journey, which depicts scenes from life, like frozen cinematic frames that hold a double meaning, and allow a glimpse into her ongoing artistic activity.

Doron Polac, Exhibition curator

February 2018