Escape
Abraham Aronovitch, 2023. Acrylic on canvas, 97 × 130 cm, Behind the Obvious series.
When the mirror opens onto an expanded landscape: fleeing without leaving oneself, within an in-between where escape remains a projected image.
Reading note
Escape belongs to the Behind the Obvious series, in which Abraham Aronovitch mobilises the bathroom mirror as a structuring element of the composition. Here, the mirror does not merely return an image of the self; it opens onto a landscape, shifting the gaze towards a distant horizon. The scene articulates two presences—the physical body and the reflected figure—establishing a distance between the enclosed space of the bathroom and the perceived image.
The mirror no longer functions solely as a reflective surface, but as a screen. Between the two figures, the gaze slides towards a calm exterior located beyond the immediate space, as if the mind were seeking an outlet beyond its own enclosure. Yet what appears is not a real escape, but a suspension between the desire to flee and the inevitable return to the self. The work thus installs a state of permanent transition, where escape is experienced as an oneiric possibility without ever resolving into a definitive departure.
The whole room: The Escape
Room 2 · The Escape, The Mental Window : 6 paintings, in hanging order.
