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SCIENTIFIC ORANGE 1996 HEAD WITHIN A HEAD NO FAVORITE COLOR, 2002
CM. 600X400X400 /IN. HAND PAINTED STEEL STREET INSTALLATION IN KASSEL, GERMANY
236X158X158 CM. 250X160X80/ FT.98X33X311⁄2 CM. 700X400X200/ FT. 24X12X6
CITY HALL SQUARE, REHOVOT SENATE BUILDING 50 FIGURES, HAND POINTED
HEBREW UNIVERSITY
MOUNT SCOPUS, JERUSALEM

and strictly guarding their status as objects that are neither in his fluid “in between” state, offer the viewer a break, mostly comical,
sculpture nor painting but an ingenious hybrid of the two; they from daily trials and tribulations. Everyone can appreciate Gerstein’s
almost always are decorated with contorted colorful images of sculptures, enjoy them and relax with them, for they are neither
people walking, dancing, or running. Gerstein takes us on a tour, demanding nor frustrating. There is nothing to be understood or
on a folkloristic caricaturist marathon of Modern Art and its misunderstood. They simply look different from this or that side or angle.
mythological heroes, from Picasso, Braque, Serra, to Lichtenstein The fabrics of the figure’s clothes are designed with a richness of style,
and Stella and Oldenburg. This is a marathon of fauvist, post-cubist, as are their movements and hair blowing in the wind. The images and
neo-pop, and postmodern associations. With his well-known shapes create an intense, loaded atmosphere and sensuality that
mastery of styles, and the repeated evocation of the twentieth emphasizes the poetics of the emotion, the artist’s experience, and
century’s famous artists, he presents a wide spectrum of images, attitude to the world.
nostalgia, folklore, memories, and contexts. There is something
almost pre-linguistic, simple, innocent, and hypnotic in Gerstein’s As noted above, Gerstein’s work does not use a system of perplexing
sculptures and cutouts. They act like a kiss that calms a baby. symbols or riddles that puzzle the viewer. On the contrary, his is a rich
There is no pain in them. There is no protest. language but clear, accessible, and immediate. It is an intuitive,
unaffected, and abundant language, which avoids the indirect hint or
On the contrary, Gerstein has developed a position against emotional block. It is a language that is concerned with maintaining
committed art or the art of protest. He is against “against-art.” In contact and avoiding over-sophistication or alienating the viewer. It is a
place of protest that may, he thinks, burden the viewer, he places language where the image suggests the aesthetic goal. In other words,
objects, images, and pictures that appeal to the viewer with a kind Gerstein’s pictorial language insinuates its images into itself and projects
of pleasant passivity. Gerstein builds a relationship with the viewer affection for those willing to accept them, similarly perhaps to Dalia
based on mutual sympathy. The delightfulness of the images, the Rabikovich in “The Love of the Golden Apple,” her first poem, published
shapes, and the colors, even as they reflect on post-modern man in 1959: “Golden apple! loved its eater! good to look at! to he who eats it.”

Noami AvivNoami Aviv
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