Nir Arieli at Daniel Cooney Fine Art
Thumbnail Image: ©Nir Arieli, Les Ballets Trockadaro de Monte Carlo, 2014, Archival Pigment Print
Daniel Cooney Fine Art was very proud to announce our second solo exhibition of photographs by New York based Israeli artist Nir Arieli. The exhibition, titled Flocks consists of ten large-scale color photographs of international dance companies. The monumental photographs were made in New York, Greece, Israel and Canada, photographed in the companies’ own studios with natural light.
The evocative photographs capture the dancers performing for the camera, yet still, eyes closed, bodies seemingly at rest in seductive flesh colored mounds of faces, limbs and torsos. Arieli says, “Relying mostly on nonverbal language, the dancers formed intricate living sculptures. As they worked together, the slight dialogues between them enabled a larger visual narrative. The intertwining of bodies carries an undercurrent of sex and death, reflecting and amplifying the complexity of human relationships.”
Image above: ©Nir Arieli, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, 2014, Archival Pigment Print
Flocks continues the artist’s exploration of the dancer’s body, the beauty and deterioration, the strength and vulnerability. Additionally, this new series addresses the social sphere in which the dancers live and work. Each company has it’s own language, personal dynamics and hierarchies that are both hidden and revealed in the photographs.
Image above: ©Nir Arieli, Shen Wei Dance Arts, 2014, Archival
Pictured in the exhibition are Nederlands Dans Theater II, Batsheva Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Ballet Hispanico, Pontus Lidberg Dance, Ailey II (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater) and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
Image above: ©Nir Arieli, The Martha Graham Dance Company, 2014, Archival Pigment Print
Nir Arieli is a native of Israel and currently lives in New York City. While a soldier in the Israeli Army he served as a photographer for the magazine Bamachane. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts. He specializes in portraiture and dance photography and describes himself as “an admirer of gentleness, beauty that embodies a sense of conflict and physical intelligence.”
Nir Arieli: Flocks is on view at Daniel Cooney Fine Art until June 4, 2016 at508 - 526 West 26th Street, #9C, New York, NY
