EVA LANSKA
Eva Lanska is an acclaimed award-winning international filmmaker, screenwriter and visual artist who currently lives between London and Tel Aviv. Having directed films for many years, Eva meticulously orchestrates her compositions, paying special attention to nuanced lighting effects, metaphors, symbolic meanings of colours, along with the hidden messages associated with them. Her saturated palette and use of cinematic devices result in the construction of haunting, dreamlike images. Lanska’s artworks stand out through their emotional, even visceral depth and her ability to build on dramatic contrasts and irreconcilable contradictions, adding to the dynamic power and multi-dimensionality of her visual language. Her works abound with psychological and physical tension, often resulting in highly philosophical and poetic images.
FEATURED WORK
GEMATRIA
Lanska's new Gematria 596 series was inspired by the ancient teaching and philosophy of Kabbalah (originally, kabbalah meant “tradition,” but it came to be associated with the Jewish mystical teaching on the divine world). Lanska has been exploring kabbalistic teachings and experimented with numbers for a long time. At some point, Eva resided in Tzfat (Safed), a mountainous city in the Northern District of Israel that was once famous for being a major centre of kabbalistic learning. She chose to translate this fascination with the kabbalistic tradition into her new artistic series. Thinking first of Safed and Tel Aviv, the artist eventually devoted her artworks to the ancient city of Jerusalem. Today, it is a conflict-ridden centre of three world religions, full of contrasts and contradictions. The series is an evocation of Jerusalem’s intricate cityscape, with its surfaces and rough, sensual textures, bright colours and ever-changing shapes.
In this series, the artwork titled 596, is nothing else but the added numerical value, or gematria, of the Hebrew letters in the city’s name. Initially showcased in Venice during the 2022 Biennale, Gematria is Lanska’s first foray into abstraction. Images evoke both spiritual and artistic traditions associated with the city of Jerusalem. This experimental artwork is incorporates imagery of oriental spices pulverised with water which makes for an intricate and unique pattern. Each arrangement is unique by the way in which it scatters over the painterly surface. The artist draws a meaningful parallel with the uniqueness of each individual soul: the life of each person is valuable and irreplaceable.
Exploring the ancient method of gematria, Lanska choses to hide the title of each artwork in its numerical value.