Arranged in a spiraling vortex of bold colours and forms, the illusive depth of Tal R’s Melody draws the viewer into the composition, inviting them to enter the artist’s vivid, abstracted world. Having grown up in the 1970s, the israeli born, Denmark-based artist immerses himself in the iconography of the period. Combining a retro palette with an arrangement of rock ‘n’ roll guitars and psychedelic album imagery, he crafts a central circular pattern that recedes into the distance. The geometry of this arrangement creates a corridor - a time warp - in the centre of the painting, through which the viewer is invited to travel with the artist into the past.

In making this invitation, Tal R playfully hints at the power of the artist to shape mundane materials into a composition that transports its viewers into an alternative time and space. Having described his painting style as ‘Kolbojnik’ (the Hebrew word for “leftovers”). Tal R clearly revels in the inspiration of everyday objects and the collage technique of Picasso’s synthetic still life. In successfully combining this multitude of disparate sources, the artist’s creative reward is a rich and heavily layered relief whose three-dimensional vibrancy literally reaches out and touches the viewer.

Tal R was a professor at the renowned Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, from 2005 to 2014. His works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin as well as Victoria Miro Gallery in London and can be found in the collections of the Essl Museum, Saatchi Gallery, Moderna Museet and the Rema Hort Mann Foundation.