Soldier with Green Yarmulke, 2009, oil on Das, 25 x 25 x 28 cm, courtesy of the artist, photo: Reli Avrahami
Soldier with Red Yarmulke, 2009, oil on Das, 28 x 30 x 28 cm, courtesy of the artist, photo: Reli Avrahami
Na, Nach, Nachma, Nachman Me'Uman, 2009, oil on Das, 32 x 28 x 25 cm, courtesy of the artist, photo: Reli Avrahami
The Sad Man, 2008, oil on Das, 27 x 23 x 16 cm, courtesy of the artist, photo: Reli Avrahami
Soldier Torso, 2009, oil on Das, 35 x 25 x 28 cm, courtesy of the artist, photo: Reli Avrahami
Last Supper, 2005, Sculpture: Das, oil colors, medicines, baby chair, phonebooks, 110 x 47 x 47 cm, Painting: oil on canvas and wooden frame, 49 x 32 cm, courtesy of the artist, photo: Reli Avrahami
Soldier with Green Yarmulke, 2009, oil on Das, 25 x 25 x 28 cm, courtesy of the artist, photo: Reli Avrahami
Heidi Stern
In her portraits Heidi Stern distills the main characteristics of the figures and exaggerates them to stress their human blemishes. The grotesque, almost caricature-like, element is highlighted through her use of Kermiplast Das, a claylike material that solidifies in open air. Last Supper (2005) shows her sick father, his upper body exposed and his proportions reduced to that of a baby, sitting forlorn and lost atop a stack of Berlin area telephone books situated in a little wooden chair. Alongside this sculpture there are sculptures of male heads, most of which are soldiers, created under the inspiration of a military ceremony her nephew underwent. The soldiers' camouflage colors and their yarmulkes make us reflect on the characteristics of Israeli patriotism in the second Millennium. Ageing, sickness and bodily waste join the death-potential of the soldiers' severed heads, marked by a grotesque smile.
