Israeli poet and artist Ave has been a regular feature onthe DPV since it’s very beginning. Ave’s video (see here) are unique in that what makes them psychedelic is not a garish flow of colors on the screen, but rather something more simple and unmediated. The felt presence of immediate experience.
Whether it is two plastic bags hovering around each other in the wind like two lovers caught up in a dance, or a zen moment on top of an amusement park merry go round, Ave’s videos capture something elusive and beautiful about the reality of the present moment. As a viewer, you tend to get caught in the experience of what is happened in those very moments in which the video was shot.
Ave has a very Zen-like approach to film making, a way of filming reality and yet being present in it. Whether he is the one shooting the video or the one to appear in it, the camera is not invisible. It is part of the scene, like a participator but in a way that doesn’t hem or hamper the magic which happens on the screen but ends up making it even brighter and more awesome.
Ave’s present video, Pelepe, is, to my mind, his best work so far. It starts as a regular ride on the Israel train service, but then Ave and his partner in this video, the dancer K, begin their highly peculiar act which is difficult to describe: is this a dance? a performance? a meditation?
As they continue they arouse the interest of not only their immediate wagon neighbors. The entire train car gets involved, all sharing the magic of the moment, the wonder of watching people open up like this, sharing their intimacy with strangers on the train. In this way, Ave and K give those around them the present of intimacy, as the whole train wagon gets immersed in the special and beautiful happening.
Things continue to evolve from there, ending with a reminder of the kind of fears this intimacy and expressiveness can also stimulate in some, and the existence of violence which is always there lurking alongside the beauty and the joy in this imperfectly perfect world of ours.
A spectacular video.
The Daily Psychedelic Video 