Warm Stitch

Noa Hyman Dror’s works are free and fluid, almost floating. They touch without touching—light, tender, and painted in warm oils that create a rich chromatic harmony. At the same time, they remain highly liberated, never confining the artist within a laborious academic technique. Hyman Dror creates a deeply personal, familial, warm, and revealing world. Each painting is an episode drawn from her life: an observation of existential fragments—parenthood, partnership, curiosity, and the immediate environment around her. Yet these intimate scenes also carry a universal quality, filled with the atmosphere of quiet daily life and touching experiences familiar to us all. The video work depicting the artist’s father on his deathbed sharpens and deepens the meaning of the surrounding works. It introduces a memento mori—a reminder of mortality. Some of the works emerge from the pain of losing a father at a young age and compel us to confront the inevitability of our own ending. Alongside this, most of the paintings faithfully and tenderly describe the other elements of life: innocent scenes of infancy and childhood, softened by gentle colour; a cat resting comfortably within the family home; Ido reclining peacefully in the living room at dusk; a beloved aunt seated in an armchair, looking toward us with affection. Above these scenes hovers a fragile question: is this simply deep sleep, or a passage? Is everything before us only a fleeting illusion? Could all this goodness disappear in an instant? Everything is connected—the love of life and the knowledge of its ending. This balanced duality precisely reflects the exhibition title chosen by the artist: Warm Stitch. This is Noa Hyman Dror’s first solo exhibition. The body of work spans many years of creation and has matured into this presentation marking the renewed activity of Ashush Gallery at the Artists’ Village in Tzukim.

Curatorial text: Kobi Shahar