“Such and Such”, New Exhibition by David Gerstein

The project is an adventure in which Gerstein harnesses the creative rhythm characterizing him in favor of a new perspective. In this body of work he opts, for the first time, for an intimate situation of introspection, looking inward as opposed to his routine gaze outward, at everyday life around him.
Gerstein faces the mirror alone. He does not look at his reflection, but rather beyond it, into his true nature. He paints a series of personal portraits in small format, imprinting them with the map of his aspirations, memories, and passions alongside his typical humor. Some of the

portraits capture moments in which he is seen drawing into an inner world, but none of them surrenders details of the horizon to which he is looking. The brush strokes, the chosen coloration, and the angular characterization of the portraits' background are used to enhance the sense of intimacy, but not to reveal anything beyond it. The portraits are grouped into two series, evolving around acts such as tooth brushing, hair washing, bathing, and removing whiskers, signifying the need to discover and reveal what lies beyond the surface. The accumulation of works emphasizes the pace of action, the perseverance, the endless repetition of gestures, as well as their bidirectional, dual quality: moving here and there, to this side and to the other.

Gerstein introduces his worldview, reinforcing the sense of existence in constant motion. In his universe, a single representation is virtually impossible because there is an entire spectrum of concurrent possibilities; next to "this" there is always "that," such and such.
Compressed into a reduced format, the artist's portraits are juxtaposed with much larger works portraying the bathroom interior, which served as backdrop for the portraits. The artist's absence in these paintings is conspicuous; the void extends from one end of the canvas to the other, and within that void he is reflected by various means, if not physically present, present as an invisible, unseen entity, such or such.

In the final cutout, life-size painting, Gerstein depicts the most fatal mirror and the most personal reflection, a hand-painted metal cutout of himself and his twin brother. Gerstein’s painting joins the figures, indicating that there is no other way but this and that, such and such.

Meir Loushy, June 2022

Gerstein's project and exhibition is part of Loushy Art & Projects' ongoing activity, comprising collaboration and dialogue with artists that lead to the creation of a cluster of works underlain by a common structure or concept unique in the artist's oeuvre (participants have included Eitan Buganim, Michael Druks, Gilad Efrat, Elger Esser, Max Frisinger, Tsibi Geva, Olaf Holzapfel, Volker Hueller, Zivia Kay, Pavel Pepperstein, Michael Sailstorfer, Yehudit Sasportas, Khen Shish and Nahum Tevet)