Following two heavyweight series on Old Age and Battered women, Etti turns to deal with the “Nothing”. The time when commitment, responsibility and action become secondary in the tormentous daily routine.

Leisure and beyond, the exhibition’s name, is derived from Chehover’s sources of inspiration: weekend newspapers, magazines dealing with celebrity leisure culture in particular and laymen in general, street photos of people in motion who are in no rush, as well as leisure paintings by Renoir, Degas, Pisaro and Kilbourne.

On tiny wooden chips or Belgian game boards Chehover weaves scenes between relaxed images, happy and devoted to the freedom they gained: girls jumping rope, a woman passionately smoking a cigarette, a man walking along the beach, street passerby, youngsters huddling in a forest.

Going out to nature is perceived by Chehover as yearning for happiness and therefore in some works she eliminates the action and lets the images merge with nature: emerge out of a mountain, field and bush with an expression of happiness and content. By doing so she enables the spectator to envision the story of the picnic, camping, vantage point and trip.

In spite of the use of heavy oil colors, Chechover’s palette is bright, light and airy. The characters’ faces make references to figures by Caravaggio, Titian and Velasquez, emerging out of the foundation into a decomposed composition in the margins of the frame, as if instantaneously captured in a wonderful, intriguing, Paparazzi painting.

Closing: 18.07.17