160 X 160 CM
Photos: Elad Sarig, Amina Hassen, Hugard&Vanoverschelde photography studio, Matan Mittwoch | Design: Lee&Tamar studio
Black Box inside Square 2012
In Yosef Joseph Dadoune's Black Box inside Square II, the geometric mould reflects the darkened room, in a play of mirrors that is created on the monochromatic bitumen-covered canvas.
The materiality of the picture hints at its source in the photography of Nicéphore Niépce (who used bitumen as a light-sensitive material in order to develop heliography).
While Dadoune's canvas recalls the auto-reflexive art of
Robert Ryman, it goes beyond the medium of painting and
turns towards photography. From that merging of media,
a kind of toxicity seems to emerge - toxicity that's inseparable from the chemical processes and the industrial use of bitumen.
From an essay by Audrey Illouz,
Curator of the exhibition L'apparition des images, at the Fondation Ricard, Paris 2013.