Ohad Meromi is a sculptor and multimedia artist. He lives and works in New York, and holds a BFA from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and MFA from Columbia University school of the Arts.
Meromi has exhibited solo exhibitions at prestigious museums and galleries such as MoMa PS1, New York; Art in General, New York; Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv; and Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv; as well as group exhibitions at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; The Tel Aviv Museum of Art; The 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art; The Lyon Biennial, France; Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin; Magasin III, Stockholm; De Appel Museum, Amsterdam; and Sculpture Center, New York.
He won multiple awards, including The Israeli Minister of Culture Award; The Mary Fisher Award, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design; and The Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant. Meromi is also the recipient of a NYC percent for art public commission of 2015.
MIII JAFFA: Hi Ohad, How are you doing these days?
O.H: I’m ok. It’s been mostly rainy and gray for almost a month.
The weather seems to have a more direct impact on my mood than anything else. Working on my own in my own time is something I know well. In stark contrast, from outside one hears bird song and ambulance sirens; a little less sirens in the past week.
MIII JAFFA: Tell us something about the work from Magasin III collection we see here.
O.H: This piece is from a while ago. I was trying to get back to figurative after mainly making videos and installations where I set up environments for play and performative participation. The objects are prop-like. Here we have a pile of blocks making an ad-hoc image of a figure with a bird on its shoulder. It’s this logic of play – the blocks are potential and the image they make is ephemeral, tentative. They figure can be toppled down in any time to return to a pile of bricks.
I’m revisiting the pile of blocks from my kindergarten years. When the world was made by the act of playing.
I have been ‘working’ like that for some time now.
MIII JAFFA: Do you experience this artwork differently in these days?
O.H: Well museums and white boxes that allow me to invoke this kindergarten playroom are closed. So are kindergartens. Not sure what other Spaces emerge instead.
My daughter Nina who is 9 has been making play dates in Minecraft, with her friend, where they meet up daily and build a city, and chat about other stuff as they work together.
What are you working on right now?
I’m still working on physical blocks. Been working with sheet metal and the work becomes a bit like jewelry or armor.
MIII JAFFA: What are you working on right now?
O.H: I’m still working on physical blocks. Been working with sheet metal and the work becomes a bit like jewelry or armor.
MIII JAFFA: Thoughts about the future?
O.H: The future? Too many variables.
