IV. Form on Form (1964-1965)
Yona Fischer, Catalogue: "Itineraries and Forms", 1976
1963 Returns to Jerusalem, to the Foreign Ministry, where he works until his retirement in 1971.
Buys oil pastels (Panda brand) in Rome.
1964-65 Paints the Panda series.
Shows 15 works at the Venice Biennale, with Lea Nickel and Igal Tumarkin.
1966 Shows Panda paintings at the Massada Gallery in Tel Aviv.
In 1964-65 Aroch uses oil pastels extensively, working directly on given forms: using reproductions of paintings and color photographs from magazines as raw materials for the creation of a new form while "erasing" parts of the existing images. The foundation of abstract and concrete elements, whether identifiable or not, serves to create a new image--a more complex form than those in the series Arches and Tzakpar. Talking about the Panda paintings Aroch speaks explicitly about "a form that would have no relation to the 'subject,' about forms that are the components of a situation."
Asked about his relation to Pop Art, Aroch replied: "These artists opened doors and windows and allowed me to take a different direction, but they're not dealing with the same things as I am, nor with color as such, and the basic difference between us is that I don't paste and don't make collages. I take the standard thing, throwaway paper, play with it and take it somewhere else." From and interview with Heda Boshes, Haaretz, April 26, 1966.
