Black & White In Italian, “tempo” means time, but tempo is also a musical term that defines the speed of music, meaning, its movement and the pace at which it is played, and in effect: the time of the music. Figuratively, we could say that one of the facets of the time of the painting is its rhythm – or tempo, and as one can easily see, Shraga Biran’s painting is a highly rhythmic painting. We may also consider the style of Biran’s art through the rhythm of the painting, and the Biranesque rhythm is quite distinct: the scribbled line is fast and energetic, creating a sense of urgency – a feeling of shortness of time. This aspect is amplified by the density of the composition and its elements, so that the shortness of time is also manifested in shortness of space. Usually, the space of the painting is filled to the brim with serpentine elements, if you will, tangled and entwined with a vigorous Baroque expressiveness.
The tempo of the painting also serves as the basis for the multiplication of rhythms. Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms, and Biran’s painting is often a polyrhythmic arena of multiple painting rhythms. The quick line, the Laocoonesque movement, the automatic drawing, the accelerated perspective, the split composition (into a diptych or triptych), the mechanism of concealment and the mechanism of revealment, the morphology of images, the density of objects and the moments of emptiness are all subject to the tempos of the painting. And even when they are disparate or conflicting, this does not prevent them from merging harmoniously into Biran’s painting time.
From Ron Bartos’ article “Shraga Biran: Painting Time”, 2019
Black & White
Black & White In Italian, “tempo” means time, but tempo is also a musical term that defines the speed of music, meaning, its movement and the pace at which it is played, and in effect: the time of the music. Figuratively, we could say that one of the facets of the time of the painting is its rhythm – or tempo, and as one can easily see, Shraga Biran’s painting is a highly rhythmic painting. We may also consider the style of Biran’s art through the rhythm of the painting, and the Biranesque rhythm is quite distinct: the scribbled line is fast and energetic, creating a sense of urgency – a feeling of shortness of time. This aspect is amplified by the density of the composition and its elements, so that the shortness of time is also manifested in shortness of space. Usually, the space of the painting is filled to the brim with serpentine elements, if you will, tangled and entwined with a vigorous Baroque expressiveness.
The tempo of the painting also serves as the basis for the multiplication of rhythms. Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms, and Biran’s painting is often a polyrhythmic arena of multiple painting rhythms. The quick line, the Laocoonesque movement, the automatic drawing, the accelerated perspective, the split composition (into a diptych or triptych), the mechanism of concealment and the mechanism of revealment, the morphology of images, the density of objects and the moments of emptiness are all subject to the tempos of the painting. And even when they are disparate or conflicting, this does not prevent them from merging harmoniously into Biran’s painting time.
From Ron Bartos’ article “Shraga Biran: Painting Time”, 2019
