Reuven Israel: U.F.O. (Untitled Folding Object) 1329 at KinoSaito

Verplanck, NY (March 2025)- KinoSaito is pleased to feature installation, U.F.O. (Untitled Folding Object) 1329 by artist Reuven Israel in Gallery 2.
“U.F.O. (Untitled Folding Object) 1329 is a solo presentation that consists of a site-specific installation and a series of related drawings by the Brooklyn-based artist Reuven Israel. This exhibition continues the artist’s abiding interest in architecture and sacred spaces’ overlapping and conflicting histories.

Israel responds to the original structure of the gallery at KinoSaito. Formerly a Catholic school, the room’s height and large, gridded windows are reflected in the composition and scale of the installation, tailor-made to fit the space. Its title, Untitled Folding Object, refers to Israel’s ongoing series of tessellated sculptures. The number 1329 is the amount of individual components it consists of. The artist created 1329 small birch elements for this installation, laminating them with colored PVC edge-banding. Each standard part has the potential to unfold like a thread to form countless configurations within the space. The experience may be considered uncanny as if stepping into a pixelated image or a woven rug – an interconnected, total, and enclosed sculptural environment that holds within itself the tension of its unraveling self-destruction.

The piece begins as a flat rectangle on the gallery floor, with a diamond-shaped central void inspired by designs of Islamic courtyards (which often feature water at their center). For each unfolding structure, the segments stretch out and expand into three-dimensional space, leaving more swathes of the bare floor where they once neatly fit.

U.F.O. (Untitled Folding Object) 1329, is inspired by early modernist art movements, as well as Navajo and Hopi weaving traditions, Op Art, science fiction, video games, and sacred geometry. While U.F.O. (Untitled Folding Object) 1329 sprawls the length of the space, with visitors able to walk around it, a series of preliminary drawings adorn the gallery walls, inviting viewers in.”

–Kathy Battista

Reuven Israel (b. 1978, Jerusalem, Israel) received his MFA and BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem. He has had solo exhibitions at the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Tel Aviv; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; Nazarian / Curcio, Los Angeles; Braverman Gallery, Tel Aviv; Sevil Dolmachi, Istanbul; Fridman Gallery, New York; Museo Civico Floriano Bodini, Gemonio; among others. Selected group exhibitions include, Objects Of Affection at Wasserman Projects, Detroit; Metamorphosis and Metaphors at Ark Kultur, Istanbul: Crossing Lines at Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Osnabrück; Diplomacy at St. John’s University, New York; Twist at Fused - Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco; Same Same But Different, Works from Haaretz collection at Minus1 Gallery, Tel Aviv; The Museum Imagined at Danese Corey, New York; The Museum PresentsItself 2 at Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; Domestic Ideals at Lesley Heller Workspace, New York; The Readymade Centennial at Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa; Re: Visiting Rockefeller at the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, Jerusalem; Senses of the Mediterranean at Hangar Bicocca, Milan. Israel has works in many private and public collections including those of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; Ashdod Museum of Art, Ashdod; Haaretz collection, Tel Aviv; Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan: Hapoalim Bank, Israel: The Geny and Hanina Brandes Collection, Tel Aviv; and others. The artist has a permanent public installation at Setter Square, Tel Aviv.

Artis
Artis supports contemporary artists from Israel whose work addresses aesthetic, social, and political questions that inspire reflection and debate. Artis is a nonprofit organization based in New York. Artis offers support in two main grant programs: exhibitions and residencies. Exhibition grants are provided to institutions in support of exhibitions presenting one or more artists from Israel. Residency grants support artists who have been accepted to international residency programs. In addition, partnership grants are provided directly to institutions and archives in support of research and acquisitions. KinoSaito was awarded an Artis Exhibition Grant in the amount of $10,000 for the exhibition, U.F.O. (Untitled Folding Object) 1329, a solo exhibition of work by artist Reuven Israel.

KinoSaito
KinoSaito is a nonprofit center founded in 2018 and dedicated to the creation of abstract art. We are committed to nurturing art experimentation across all mediums and perpetuating the legacy of our founding muse and Japanese-American artist, Kikuo Saito (1939-2016). The center opened in 2021 upon renovation of its St. Patrick’s Catholic School located in Verplanck, NY. Since opening our doors, we have served an intergenerational audience of 3,500+ annually.

For more details or to RSVP, please visit https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2025-spring-opening-reception. For any inquiries, contact KinoSaito’s Gallery Director, Meagan Meadowlark, at megan@kinosaito.org or 914-293-7468.
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KinoSaito Programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.