Avigdor Arikha's rivalry with Lucian Freud.

Result #1

In fact, Arikha is among the only artist whose work has remained in the public eye for at least two decades. He is also the only one who, along with Freuds, has been forgotten. Arikha's career in Hungary was built on the fact that he was a leader of the left-leaning resistance to Communism, which has in recent years become increasingly marginalized. Arikha's contribution to this emerging generation of artists was to maintain the opposition between the official art world and the artist as a public figure. He has repeatedly remarked that he works with the intellect and will of the artist, and he never makes statements about the artist's role or his work. In this exhibition, Arikha continued to explore the relations between artists and the public, which in the end proved to be one of the most interesting of these relations. It is up to us to decide whether we will accept Arikha's statements and beliefs.

Result #2

Arikha's work is also animated by a relation of juxtaposition: it is always framed by the same individual, whose presence, visible or otherwise, makes the works' relation to one another all the more remarkable. One of Arikhas most effective works is a series of large-scale paintings on canvas from his 2013–15 period that depict a world in which the same individual appears in various cultures, each time as a matter of difference. This is especially apparent in the portraits of his male friends, which show him as a multiple, a figure who, in Arikhas own words, has many faces—a person who has many faces, who is always different and always in a state of suspension. The artist is particularly good at making the individual part of the ensemble, of the ensemble: He paints, with an immense skill, a world of people who are all one.And yet Arikhas paintings and drawings are not just portraits of those who are usually invisible in his own work. They also explore the ways in which memory functions in the relations of representation and desire. For instance, in one of the works in the show, a hand reaches out to touch the top of an ancient mirror, as if to touch it with the hands of another person—the artist himself. The gesture is not erotic; it is the artists gesture—the erotic gesture of choice—in the attempt to become visible. But that is not all: The painting shows the viewer as a person who, through desire, becomes visible. This exhibition made explicit the ways in which the eroticism of Arikhas art seems to propose a potential for such a relationship.

Result #3

Arikhas work has a carefully selected, painstakingly researched look to it. He seems to want to be the ultimate outsider, to use Freud's words, to be the perfect outsider, and yet he makes use of his outsider status to comment on the very world he pretends to deny. Arikhas most recent exhibition consisted of a series of drawings entitled, Ive a feeling of presence in this room, 1991. The drawings are detailed, in the best sense of the word: they are fully visible and in the artists hand. The drawings are rendered with a tonality that is almost grotesque, and the lines that appear on the paper are carefully, as if in a dream, brushed. Arikhas use of abstraction as a means of expressing and interpreting the emotions—the emotion of presence—is at odds with the trappings of formalism.The drawings are, in a sense, sketches of the paintings—their surfaces are completely lacking in appearance. But they are not merely sketches, they are also direct, precise drawings that represent a very personal reaction to the world. They show Arikhas sensitivity to the relationship between painting and the world, between the artist and his own inner world. By using an abstract language of color and line to express the feeling of presence, Arikhas works in a very personal way, but also a very clear, creative one.

Result #4

Avigdor Arikha's rivalry with Lucian Freud. Arikha, who lives in New Delhi and teaches at the Centre dArt Contemporain de Montréal, does not participate in any one of these battles, however, for he is neither a rationalist nor a polemical artist. His work is quite naturalistic, and is not a commentary on either the political or the art world. The works are the result of interactions with the viewers, and they reveal nothing that Arikha cannot reveal himself. Arikhas work combines elements of sculpture, photography, and drawings, as well as the human figure. Although Arikha uses photography, he never forgets the fact that he is an artist. The works thus reveal a very intimate relation to the viewer, who is always fascinated by the interaction between two or more elements that, in turn, change according to the viewers response.The exhibition consisted of three groups of works: Arikhas sculptures, photographs, and drawings. The sculptures, which look like utilitarian objects, are made of steel, and, at the same time, of wood. The objects have the rough profile of the work of Sebastian Büttner. The sculptures are connected to one another by the wooden planks that Arikha uses to hold them together. The individual pieces are divided into three groups, one of which was constructed by Arikha himself; another was based on photographs that Arikha took of the other works in the show. The third group was made of photographs, which Arikha used to create the drawings.The sculptures are made of anodized aluminum, with edges slightly crooked. These pieces are also attached to a structure of steel rods that Arikha uses to hold them together. Arikhas sculpture has a strong material character, which is emphasized by the light that penetrates its surfaces, leaving traces of its movement. The aluminum seems to have been cut in two and has been shaped into a convex mirror.

Result #5

Avigdor Arikha's rivalry with Lucian Freud. Both artists are great philosophers, and Arikha's work is filled with existentialist, mystical, and transcendent. The result is a broad, cheerful, individualistic sensibility that can be seen as a synthesis of Lucian and Arikhas idealistic, romantic, and visionary sensibilities.Arikha's work is often portrayed as a symbol of asceticism and spirituality. He has made several series based on the philosophy of Zen Buddhism and of Zen art, and his most recent show, titled Zen Sculpture, showed him to be an artist who is moving toward a kind of mysticism, a search for the absolute. His four pieces (all works 2003) were arranged on a white, platformlike platform. They seemed to be made of marble, some of which was raw and cracked, and some of which was polished and polished, and one of them, by itself, was a truly transcendent presence. These sculptures are based on a number of pieces from Arikhas collection of antique sculpture: a number of crude marble blocks with a marbled surface, and a small, crude, bronze-like piece. They are all displayed in their original bronze-like state.Arikhas sculptures are constructed out of marble, or rather of layers of marble. The first is a kind of sapling; it is like a small temple, which Arikha has covered with a crudely carved, raw-stone-like surface. The next piece is a temple-like form, and the third is a large, carved stone. The last one is a small, carved stone with a thin, bronze-like surface, covered with a crude, raw-stone-like surface. The result is a kind of temple that is also a small, carved stone, which Arikhas work evokes, but with a more romantic, raw, nonrational form. The other two pieces are two sculptures of two legs.