Yaron Lapid

Yaron Lapid is a London-based Israeli-born artist and filmmaker. His work is experimental, typically exploring social side effects and behaviours in his surroundings, often in the context of re-examining the conventions of photography and moving images. Exhibitions include In your neighbourhood, The Haifa Museum of Art, Israel (2012), Multichannel, ArtSway Gallery, Sway, UK (2010), Nervous System, The James Taylor Gallery, London, UK (2009), Trust Yourself – New Works UK, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2007), One Must Be Careful These Days, Alma Enterprises, London (2007), White Party, Kyung Hee University, Museum of Fine Arts, Seoul, Korea (2007).

Arcadia, downtown | Israel 2008 | Video | 15 min

Filmed in the lower depths of a Tel Aviv downtown, a naked man, drugged, bangs his head against concrete walls as he staggers and falls, trying aimlessly to regain control of his own body. The naked man, in his most degraded state, is observed by a local prostitute who tries to get help for him. His identity is not clear. What is he a victim of? The prostitute tells the camera her ordeal as she comes to his aid. Her intervention makes us shift our sympathies and emotional focus constantly.
In this dark piece the artist interrogates a variety of issues, from the performance of bodies through storytelling to the camera’s ability to show simultaneously raw and performative acts and behaviours. As the viewer becomes a performer, the film also explores the question of the film-maker as voyeur. – Julia Pascal

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You Have Not Found His Riddle | Israel 2003 | Video | 12 min 40s

A seventy-year-old man living in Israel wants to die. But death does not want him.
A charming, absurdist, loveable piece.