Untitled (Two Figures) by Ohad Meromi
Ohad Meromi is a visual artist and sculptor based in New York, USA. We have two works by Meromi in the SSE permanent collection: the bronze sculpture Noa, 2024, and the 2-D collage, Untitled (Two Figures), 2024.
Ohad Meromi’s artistic style may bring to mind pioneering modernism, Russian constructivism, and Bauhaus – early 20th century styles marked by the absence of ornamentation, simplified forms, rationality and functionality. Yet it mainains a contemporary expression and awarness of the present world. His practice is often described as optimistic, stimulating conversations on collective memory, identity, and social justice. On social media, Meromi is vocal against the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Untitled (Two Figures) is part of a series of artworks which Meromi calls “2-D”. Colourful shapes and geometrical patterns are drawn, pained, cut, carved and put together on wooden boards forming abstract pieces. Although he paints on the wood, Meromi is reluctant to call these pieces paintings. Rather, he thinks of himself as a sculptor working in 2-D, the shapes and figures streching over and onto the space, building on top and carving behind. “Maybe collage is a better description, even if they are sometimes painted, because much like a collage, they are constructed from blocks: one shape is added to another.” he expalins in an interview with CFHILL.
The sense of movement and pattern and circular shapes of Untitled (Two Figures) also speaks to the elegance and movement in his sculture Noa. Through the two figures within the blocks of colour and shape, one can see both movement and stillness, the dimensional and the flat, and perhaps both hope and dispair?
Ohad Meromi (b. 1067, Kibbutz Mizra, Israel) graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art and went on to receive his MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts. He has exhibited at multiple venues and events, including The Tel Aviv Museum of Art; The 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art; The Lyon Biennial, France; Magasin 3, Stockholm; De Appel Museum, Amsterdam; and MoMa PS1, New York.
The artwork is a donation by: Micael Bindefeld, Peter & Kellie Dahlberg, Nicklas Storåkers, Gabriel Urwitz and Jonas Weil
Untitled (Two Figures)
Ohad Meromi, 2024
Collage, acrylic and resin on wood
98x98 cm
Ohad Meromi. Photo: courtesy of the artist.