Gili Avissar | Devils of Unreason | Galerie Koal | Berlin

“Who are you then?”
“I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.”
Faust
J.Goethe

Do you remember the story of sorcerer’s apprentice? It’s a tale of a bright young fellow who wanted badly to learn the business. As a matter of fact he wanted it a bit too much, and began to practice some of his boss’ magic tricks without his supervision, before learning to have them properly under control. You may recall one incident, when his master asked him to fill up a cauldron. Instead of working hard our character came up with a brilliant idea to bring a broomstick to life, so that it would carry the water for him. It worked very well and in the meantime he has forgotten the magic formula that would make the broomstick stop its job.

And here comes the punch line! Our friend started something that got beyond his own capacity. He turned the sorcerer’s workplace into a massive mess that he was unable to clean by himself. The spell he tried to use took the lead and finally ruined the task given to him by the wizard. Our dearest apprentice got utterly possessed by the spirit of the spell and its obnoxious force a.k.a the devils of unreason. If you didn’t get it yet, I’m going to say it out loud: Gili is the sorcerer’s apprentice!

Having said this, it shouldn’t make you doubt the genuine process behind the creation of Gili Avissar’s artworks. Thorough work that lays in the foundation of his artistic approach makes it one of a kind, both in terms of the quantity of his production and the intensity of his performance. Gili’s productivity, however, should not be taken as a reason to justify the quality of the works – it would be same as appreciating the sea for the fact that it creates waves. It is actually the unreason we should be looking for if we wish to validate them.

excerpt from the text by Piotr Sikora, 2017