Table by the Israeli artist Yael Davids, like many of her other works, only shows its true nature under careful and close scrutiny. Initially perfectly ordinary objects such as a table, chair or mattress, are turned into living objects with the aid of human presence. In the oeuvre of Yael Davids, the human body plays a central role, not just as a sculptural element, but also as material. She continually puts the body to the test by forcing it into awkward positions.
What is unusual about this work is that the body is an essential element. The art of Yael Davids requires the body to be complete. In this respect, her performances-installations are connected with other forms of visual arts in which the body is important, such as performance art, sculpture and portraiture. But whereas a traditional portrait represents personal characteristics, Davids actually strips the body of its personality, and she often shows only parts of the body, such as the back of the head in Table. In her work, the body merges with the object it is a part of. Moreover, her work lacks the theatrical and communicative aspect of the traditional performances of the seventies. Instead of using objects or spaces that happen to be available, the artist develops her own objects and installations. Because these objects and installations are not subordinate pieces, they are more than mere props: they also appeal to the imagination as autonomous installations.
Objects with souls
By the addition of the human body, Yael Davids gives her objects a soul. The breath of the people in her objects and the noises that are made make the object seem to come alive in a very real sense. For Yael Davids, the words ‘breath’ and ‘soul’ are related. In her native language, Hebrew, they are both known by the same word.
Yael Davids has been living in the Netherlands since 1990. After completing a dance teacher training course in Germany, she studied at the Amsterdam Rietveld Academie. The work Table was purchased by Museum De Paviljoens for The Almere Collection on the occasion of the one-woman show MAPPA: Yael Davids 1994-2003 at the museum.
The Almere Collection contains several other works by Yael Davids. In the photo pieces Nails (1996), nails of two hands are sewn together with a thread. For Timetable (1995), Davids embroidered the timetable of her first year at the Rietveld Academie on a sheet of paper, using her own hair as thread. The work contains an extraordinary expression of the concept of ‘time’. Yael Davids tries to visualise time with the aid of human presence. In Timetable, for instance, the symbol of time is her own hair, from which she literally fashions a ‘timetable’. Her performances-installations, e.g. the work Table, explicitly lack a beginning and an end. Only the human beings in her work can make the passage of time tangible. The part played by their bodies indicates a start and a conclusion, and fills the dead object with unexpected life.
Martine Spanjers
Yael Davids, Table
Yael Davids, 1968, Jerusalem, Israel
Table, 1997
performance / installation
180 cm x 200 cm x 70 cm
tablecloth of white shirts, table, 4 chairs, video recording
purchased in 2004, Museum De Paviljoens