Closer to Me Than Myself at Maya Polsky Gallery

by Jared Weiss

Gabriela Morawetz

Contemplation and engagement of the self or the other provide the key focus for ’s latest show, “Closer to Me Than Myself”. On view this month at the Maya Polsky Gallery, the works literally and poetically evoke layers of transient dimensions.  This transience or uncertainty can be felt in an almost nostalgic longing to uncover oneself through lost dimensions of time and space.

Gabriela Morawetz

The works are primarily photographic and shot with a vintage feel of temporal displacement. But what makes these photographs unique is that they aren’t comprised of a single layer but many. Some are covered with transparent screens that constitute a second photographic image (developed directly onto the screen itself). Others are covered with a layer of etched glass and others yet incorporate sculptural additions of strings and mirrors.

Gabriela Morawetz

Strings connect figures within the photographs to mirrors both in and out of the picture. These mirrors cover the chests and faces primarily of men dressed in rather plain suits. With their close proximity to the face, these mirrors become a contemplation of the self, an inward searching. They ask, how does one relate to an incredibly close introspection? Can we become so absorbed in ourselves that we lose our way in the external world? If so, what will we find? Some figures appear to be wandering, having lost their ability to see beyond the edge of the reflective glass.
Physical mirrors also allow the viewer to become a part of the work and engage with how their own reflection (or self) relates to this search. In the end we are looking for ourselves just as much as the figures depicted are.

Gabriela Morawetz

There is an element of ghostly connection between and through time and space. Screens become apparitions where figures interact, though not in the same literal space. The viewer also holds an external temporal location while becoming involved in a dialogue across this gap. “Closer to Me Than Myself” becomes a search not only for otherness but also for our own selves, a very enthralling undertaking.