Reorder

Shelly and Elon Satat-Kombor . A couple. “CoupleOf.” Living together, creating together, designing and making shoes together for over two decades. In a dialogue that started in the corridors of Bezalel Academy and continues over the years, fueled by undying passion and curiosity, they ask questions about the essence of shoes and production processes, between tradition and technology. In collaborative work processes, the two deconstruct and construct the shoe as a concept and as an object, pushing the boundaries between the conceptual and the practical, translating ideas and forms to limited series of objects that are meant to be worn on the foot and developing conceptual notions of shoes through those that are not meant to be worn.

In a pair of exhibitions – a CoupleOf exhibitions – held concurrently at two galleries, they present different issues surrounding the fundamental nature of shoes outside of the functional sphere.

In the exhibition Reorder, on view at B.Y5 Gallery, the two revisit themes and models that accompanied their work over the years and respond to it. In a series of objects and installations, they explore the essence of the shoe as a casing for the foot. Moving between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional as part of a dialogue between material and form, they challenge the relationship between the various components of the shoe and their production and creation processes, as they negotiate design, art, and culture through objects that open a dialogue and leave behind their functional aspect.

Two-dimensional and three-dimensional

The starting point of the shoe production process is the creation of models born out of a dialogue between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional – wrapping adhesive tape on a shoe last, marking a formal outline, peeling the three-dimensional drawing and flattening it to form a surface, cutting the raw materials by tracing the two-dimensional outline, gluing, stitching, and stretching the parts into functional three-dimensional objects.

In the series “pas-pas” 2021, using a paper cutout that was the basis of a functional object used in several past collections, Shelly and Elon shift between an abstract material drawing stretched on a frame in a last stretching technique, and a limited series of wearable sandals created especially for the exhibition. Through the act of stretching, the same pattern of raw material wanders between different bases that range from composition relevant to the conceptual art world and an item from the functional domain, offering a point of view on the relationship between the two.

Origami

The systematic mechanism of paperfolding and the shift from two-dimensional to the three-dimensional in origami techniques that give objects a sculptural formal volume is a recurring theme in coupleof’s collections – from models like Folds (2003) and Bat (2004) to Lily (2009).

A new interpretation to these motifs is presented through studies and objects created in collaboration with Sharon Asaf, in an installation of items of varying scale, conveying a formal language that alludes to recognizable shoes – but cannot be used as footwear.

Covering/Wrapping

The relationship between tradition and technology and between cultural histories and the multicultural present are manifested in a series of objects – Wrapping 2021, based on wrapping leather straps cut from leftover material of the production process.

Using the traditional material (leather), the basic labor-intensive practice (wrapping and stretching), and the crudest connection, which seemingly does not add another layer of reference (adhesive), the two form limbs of shoes that cannot be used, correspond with past models based on binding leather straps in a repetitive action of wrapping, like Leaves (2003) and Wrapping (2005), and create formal structures that hold an associative gamut ranging from Hermes winged sandals to the aesthetics of three-dimensional printing material layering.

In the video work that accompanies the series, they intertwine a technological production process of a shoe last with the process of crafting the object that wraps it in a labor-intensive manual work. Bringing together the rotational milling process of the subtraction in the creation of the last with the act of taping and constructing that takes place on it. Positioning shoes as a means that highlights the ongoing dialogue between man and machine and between process and object.

In another installation, based on the rotational movement of a last wrapped in black leather straps on an elevated podium, the two engage in a dialogue between controlled spectacle and the unraveling of the orderly rhythm. Thus, with a leather strap whose movement makes a flogging sound, the Sisyphean act of binding (also) becomes a means of representation for the relationship between aesthetics and pain associated with shoes in different cultures throughout history.

In the exhibition Right & Leftovers, on view at Periscope Gallery, the two present a series of objects made of old garments taken from the family’s wardrobe, highlighting issues of reclaiming and upcycling and pushing the boundaries of shoes as a concept and as footwear.

In both exhibitions Coupleof create Oneof, marking non-functional territories as the starting point for a conversation about shoes, challenging actions typical of the industry with outside associations, encasing the foot each time anew in a way that introduces questions about the relationship between material, form, and function.

Merav Rahat