Ofri Cnaani's 'The Colonel and I' at Andrea Meislin Gallery explores power, war, and eroticism

Ofri Cnaani's first solo exhibition at Andrea Meislin Gallery ran from March 10 to April 22, 2005, at 526 West 26th Street in New York. The Israeli artist, based in New York, presented work examining power dynamics, conflict, and sexuality through video installations and ink wash drawings. Her video 'Master, Slave, Hunger' (2004), created with composer Grundik Kasyansky based on text by Lior Galili, features a dark grid with erratic lights and a haunting soundtrack including a female narrator's dream. Twenty-two ink drawings on mylar offer rough, narrative-free scenes where 'The Colonel' may symbolize war and soldiers while 'I' represents art and the artist. Biblical metaphors, historical archetypes, and absurdist scenarios appear throughout, including images of soldiers with Philip Guston-like hoods and wolves. Four additional drawings on ceramic plates reference ancient Greece, blending influences from Sophocles, Louise Bourgeois, and Aubrey Beardsley. Another video, 'Quartet,' shows women in black rolling and breaking an egg-shaped plaster sculpture with carved Brancusi-esque features, creating tension through tight framing and amplified sound. Cnaani's work contrasts sophisticated video production with blunt drawing styles to maintain psychological intensity, suggesting contemporary conflicts are part of an ongoing human struggle across landscapes and private spaces. The exhibition originally appeared in Gay City News, Volume IV, Issue 15, dated April 14–20, 2005.