Paul Booth Gallery is excited to welcome back Israeli sculptor, Ronit Baranga for her second solo exhibition, “Demons’ Playground” on view from April 27th - June 2nd with an opening reception to the public on April 27th from 6-9pm.

As a sculpture and ceramic artist Ronit Baranga continues to push the line between living and still in this new exhibition by exploring the untamed facets of her imagination. She references a legacy of traditional techniques of sculpting, firing and glazing to transform her works from mere vessels into animated human forms. The exhibition features 30 new works and serves as somewhat of a departure from from her previous exhibition in 2017 comprised only of dishware. Ronit moves further into the figure with fully realized and realistic human forms seen in works like “Spider Climbed Up” and “Hollowed Lady 1 & 2.” These works which are mounted directly to the wall have have a combination of the dishware and the human element both interacting with each other.

At first glance, Ronit’s newest installations have an innocent quality to them but upon further inspection, a stranger sense of anxiety creeps in and visions of a innocent childhood give way to darker internal forces. The centerpiece of the exhibition “Projection” depicts an adolescent girl almost reminiscent of Thérèse Dreaming (1938 Balthus) but rather the subject lucid, it’s reimagined as she is confronted by her demons internally and externally. She laughs in total madness as her arm is transforms into a demon, locked in a trance they are both casting their self-perception on themselves in an endless circle of fear and self awareness.

The dishware with sourced forms and patterns from commercially banal Wedgewood to the aristocrat 17th Century Blue and White Pottery are birthing with human like forms as they reach out to one another with implied movement and free will. “Wild Things”, “Whispering to Myself” and “Hybrid Tea Set” series, comprised of 17 individual works, provide a flow through the exhibition as they exist untethered and scattered throughout the gallery. Some are delicately placed on the edge of pedestals whilst others are mounted to the wall as though the entire China cabinet has come alive.

Something about Baranga's works seems exposed and vulnerable, and at the same time amused and curious. They are free of inhibitions and fears-- releasing the emotionally charged and often more painful demons. “This dichotomy is what keep me coming back to review her works over and over again” says gallery director Michael Ruple.