I've walked three times now through the MFA's recent exhibition ("History Repeating") of Israeli photographer and video artist Ori Gersht. His work verges on melodrama, and can be conceptually literal (freezing and exploding a classical still life...a video piece of a slowly melting Roman coin entitled 'Liquid Assets'...), but the technical precision and beauty with which the productions are created deems those complaints totally irrelevant. His video pieces are completely entrancing and meditative. While much of his work alludes to the effects of the Holocaust on it's survivors and the world, I think his most moving pieces consider that abstractly or feature another subject. 'Dead Dog' is a lush, dark landscape set in Galicia, in Spain, where an oil spill destroyed so much natural life in 2002. 'Will You Dance With Me' (which I could not find in it's entirety online) is an hypnotic film following the subtle head and hand motions of a very elderly Israeli ballerina, her 'dance' and the unerring focus on her gorgeous face is so mesmerizing I'm not even sure if I sat through the film once or twelve times through. I used to snub a lot of video art, but Gersht has certainly proved me wrong with his masterpieces. Check out this haunting exhibition before it leaves the MFA Boston on January 6.
