Michael Halak

Born in Fasuta, 1975. Lives and works in Haifa.

Michael Halak's self-portraits address fundamental questions pertaining to the politics of identity and the self-representation of young Palestinians in Israel. The ability to go (or not go) through modern life, through normal time, without immediately being identified as an "other"; the ability to rely on the appearance of an unmarked face, devoid of ethnic features, and to assimilate in the crowd without being stopped, examined, exposed.

In Untitled (2008), the artist is portrayed in a black leather jacket and a white T-shirt, one hand holding the other, thus reducing the dimensions of his body which is demarcated by a meticulous frontal angle. The artist is swallowed in the dark, shady background, and the figure appears as though it is absorbed into the darkness. A frontal representation of a portrait is often discussed in the context of police mug shots of suspects and interrogees. In this context, the artist's figure appears nondescript; his eyes are shaded and unclear, therefore there is no eye contact with the viewer. His figure is devoid of unusual identifying details, and it appears as though he is trying to look as natural as he can so as not to attract any attention to his figure in the painting. The juxtaposition between the meticulous, detailed painterly realism and the bodily gestures creates a sense of exposure, discomfort, and perplexity.

The fear of the possibility of exposure clearly arises in Untitled 1 (2008), where Halak closes both his eyes. In this close-up painting the artist is portrayed at home. The eye-shutting in the domestic interior represents a double blindness, both internal and external. In many cultures the eyes are identified as windows to the soul. Closing his eyes to the viewer thus represents a barrier, an obstruction, disallowing intimate acquaintance with his figure. The shutting of the eyes in one's own home also implies detachment and solitude.

Untitled 2 (2008) is based on a photograph portraying Halak in a woolen hat, his eyes narrowed, as he breathes onto a glass plate behind which he poses. On the canvas, the glass plate remains invisible, and the exhaled breath blurs the mouth area, lending it an airy quality. As opposed to the dramatic eye-shutting, the blurring of the mouth may be construed as a visual attempt to confront questions of silencing and the ability to speak, while presenting the process of breathing and externally manifesting the artist's breath as well as his inner world.

Halak's self-portrait does not explore whether the portrait faithfully represents his facial appearance; rather, it engages in a dialectic attempt to generate exposure and obstruction, a realistic presence and a deliberate blurring at the same time. In this context Max Beckmann's assertion comes to mind, "If you wish to get hold of the invisible you must penetrate as deeply as possible into the visible." In Halak's case, however, the penetration seems to encapsulate anxiety of real physical injury or hurt, and a human need to protect the artist's inner soul.