"The name of Reuven Zahavi’s exhibit, China refers to the tradition of Chinese porcelain and its designs and to tableware in the home. In the exhibit Zahavi presents Issawiya Service – a collection of plastic disposable utensils used as a platform for his drawings. All of the drawings portray a view of Issawiya, a large village that lies at the foot of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, opposite the windows of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. The depictions of the Palestinian village, whose inhabitants live in terrible conditions in spite of the fact that since 1967 it was incorporated in the expanded municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, replace the Chinese and sometimes European landscapes in Zahavi’s exhibit. Sometimes the scenes of the stricken village seem to merge with the familiar pastoral scenes in the porcelain utensils. “The village,” says Zahavi, “from which smoke ascends and the sound of explosions is heard, remains invisible to the day to day life of Mount Scopus.” This invisibility is expressed in illustrations and decorations that cover the utensils – plants""and animals, lakes and bridges, gardens or hunting scenes, “Chinese” landscapes and other imaginary scenary – all of which express Zahavi’s view of the village, and perhaps his impersonation and estrangement from its inhabitants. Zahavi looks at the country scene from the windows of the Academy, with its glorious history, and by doing he connects to the tradition of Jewish Israeli landscape drawings. However, his choice of drawing the village inspired by traditional aesthetics alienates us from the Palestinian village. This alienation invites him and the viewer to look directly at the invisible village, to comment on the location of the Academy of Art and to think about the place of the artist in relation to it. The choice of drawing the images on disposable plastic utensils raises fascinating questions about the significance of the painting and the status of the artist. This choice raises the value of plastic and at the same time raises a question about the value of the creation of art. “The white plastic plate,” says Zahavi, “is a material that rebels against painting, it is a cheap imitation. It is recycled in a series of “reflexive studies” whose goal is to bring up and make present, issues regarding the status of the observer, the object and the artist in the face of the reality of oppression and invisibility.” The collection displayed in the exhibit casts the status of the artist in relation to the village in a somewhat ironic, somewhat reflexive light. Does the choice to immortalize the village in a utensil that is meant to be thrown away after its use, express perhaps unconscious contempt for the invisible village? Is it a reflection of the crude local culture? Does it hint at the harsh Israeli policy towards the inhabitants of the village, who are living under closure now? Does the choice articulate questions about the imitation and impersonation of materials, and perhaps about artistic activity in general, not only in relation to itself – but also in relation to reality? The display of the collection in the spaces of The Underground Academy of the Maamuta Center in Hansen House, in the framework of Design Week, places Zahavi’s work in contrast with not only the tradition of Israeli painting but also the language of design, craft and the industry of mass production. Zahavi asks questions about the status of the functional and disposable object in relation to reality and the eternity of art, and no less than that – of the nation. China –a beautiful collection of charged drawings on a set of cheap plastic plates, comments on the act of drawing itself, which argues with the erasure that is inimically bound up with the very act of observation of the village from the spectacular windows of the buildings on Mount Scopus. China exhabition catalogue, The Center for Art and Media "Maamuta” at Hansen House , 2016