Podcast: Play in new window
Merav Kamel and Halil Balabin are from Israel and were doing a residency at PRAM studios in Prague, CZ. I had a chance to meet with them and discuss Critical reviews, Success, Fully funded residencies, Application fees, Artist statements, Art materials, Sketchbooks, Journals, and Teaching.
https://halilandmerav.weebly.com
About
Merav Kamel (b. 1988 in Israel) and Halil Balabin (b. 1987 in Israel) have been an artistic duo since 2012, living and working in Tel Aviv.
Both were awarded BFA at the Becalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem (Kamel in 2012, Balabin in 2014).
Their textile work is an associative way of thinking – attaching various organs from amputations, hybridizations, and compositions that create a new object. It is a mutation of lust and fantasy with a humorous touch that connects a number of familiar images: cartoons, surrealism, poetism, a mixture of high and low art, art history, and Israel’s conflict and bizarre space.
The stitched statues of Merava and Halil are the material embodiment of inconspicuous jokes, bonmotos, puns and twisted historical quotes, enchanted by simple and prosaic “witty” jokes, vulgarisms, social and political criticism. They include bold images with a hidden thorn, and that’s also how they interact with the viewer: sweetly seductive, then painful and provocative, depending on the story they reveal. The work is hand-sewn, with great attention to detail. They evoke the folklore traditions of Israeli art and add new layers to it.
The common art of Merava and Halil blurs the masculine-feminic dichotomy of their works and enables fluid gender identity. This creates an ever-changing androgynous being with the ability to play more than one role.
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For more information about the host, Matthew Dols
http://www.matthewdols.com
Transcript available: https://wisefoolpod.com/transcript-for-episode-012-art-duo-merav-kamel-halil-balabin-isreal/
