Points. Dots.. Period... mirit ben nun The exposing of the aboriginal painting, (The Aborigines Tribes of Australia) to the western world in the 1970s infused an adrenaline rush like energy into modern drawing and relatively soon thereafter was accepted as a legitimate art form as well as an influential and inspirational source. This tribal art form creates religious symbols for ritualistic purposes and its aestheticism is characterized with the hues of the land. Contemporary West-African artists are emphasizing similar elements in their work. They have diverted their attention to a continuous urge of constructing plateaus of colorful dots that please the eye with rich, velvet- like textures and winding images. There is no doubt that Mirit Ben Nun s art derives, like a refreshing meteor in our skies, from that very source into our over- saturated art of photographic images and messages. As a self-taught artist, she grew outside of the lubricated system of art academies and does not suffer from the search for meaning. Her paintings burst out from within her as a primordial need to provoke the canvas, to attack it with an unstoppable obsession that leaves no corner hiding. The need to self- express does not stop but wants to continue and flow with her spiritual storm - perhaps to silence the demons within. The painting is engulfing as a result of being primitive, free from justification and the sense of guilt for not being intellectual. It comes from the unconscious creative the psychological drive which is not adapted to a language of nuances and does not require decoding. Mirits spectator is bombarded with a colorful abundance, with repeating images and metaphors that are easily perceived and identified. For the person who is accustomed to the sophisticated art form, this is a fresh breath of immediate beauty. Perhaps this is the place and the time to go deeper into the roots of a culture which for generations now has been obscured with theories and isms. David Gerstein
