- Shay Frisch

Shay Frisch was born in Petach-Tikva, Israel, and he lives and works in Rome. Frisch’s activities investigate energy through works that rely on an electrical current to generate an electromagnetic field that permeates the surrounding space. Frisch constructs his electromagnetic fields by assembling common electrical adapters in series, electrical conductors harnessed within modular repetitions and turned into living, pulsating matter by electricity. The light in Frisch’s work reveals the electrical charge incorporated within, testifying to the underlying phenomenon, but also the inner, burning, primordial nature of the surrounding field. His monochromatic productions feature basic geometric shapes, mathematical proportions and essential, often archaic archetypal signs. The relationship with the exhibition space and the use of shapes aimes to encourage the evocative potential of the field and contemplation of it. Shay Frisch’s works have been exhibited in various museums and foundations in Italy and abroad. In 2013 the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome dedicated a major solo exhibition to his work, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva. Other solo exhibitions have been held at: MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (2019); ZAC – Zisa Arti Contemporanee, Palermo (2018); MAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Lima (2017); Fondazione San Fedele, Milan (2017); MAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile (2016); CIAC, Centro Internazionale per l’Arte Contemporanea, Castello Colonna, Genazzano (2015); Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel (2011). Frisch has participated in three editions of the Curitiba Biennial at the MON Museu Oscar Niemeyer (2019, 2017, 2015), the Venice Biennale (Modus, 2017), the Bienal del Fin del Mundo in Valparaíso, Chile (2015) and Mar del Plata, Argentina (2014), and the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi (2012). In 2012 he exhibited for the first time in the USA, at the Haunch of Venison gallery in New York and in 2018 he presented an installation at the Royal Palace of Caserta. Frisch’s work is also present in various public and private collections, including the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.