Celebrating the inauguration of its new Chelsea location at 520 West 27th Street, Nancy Hoffman Gallery is pleased to present Intimate Monuments, a show of sculpture and drawings by Ilan Averbuch. The exhibition opens on Thursday, October 30, 2008 and closes on Tuesday, December 31, 2008. A reception will be held on October 30 from 6 to 8 pm.

Taking advantage of the size of Nancy Hoffman Gallery’s new space, Ilan Averbuch has created a series of awe inspiring works of wood, lead, steel, glass and stone that dialogue with the gallery’s 27-foot high ceilings. Each sculpture shimmers under the natural light of clerestory windows. During the past three years while working on his pieces for Intimate Monuments, Averbuch also worked on several large public commission projects throughout the United States and in Israel. Thus, the sculptures featured in this show are infused with monumentality akin to public sculptures. They live between earth and sky and transcend the issue of scale that must live within four walls. Titles like “Self Portrait,” “The Loneliness of Queen Hatshepsut” or “Diary,” suggest intimacy, though some of the works soar to thirteen feet in height. Smaller works in sculpture and drawing also investigate the quest for the monumental.

“I build sculptures that try to transform a place or space into an imaginary world. A narrative cycle takes place when one breaks the delicate balance of scale, material, and mass. I often use monumentality as my vehicle,” Averbuch says. “It is to a great extent an assertion of our defiance of the passage of time, of our rejection of the power that belittles us, and our ambitions. Yet my work continues to reflect upon the impossibility of the monumental vision. In the end, the search is more about personal identity – reckoning with fundamental existential questions.”