FERNBERGER

DEAD TIRED FROM THE BURDEN OF A DREAM

"World" we inscribed in the sand,

and "God".

And dead tired from the burden of a dream,

and with a little mockery

deep into the sand we carved:

"Eternity"

Our hands moved heavily and blindly,

as through a storm.

Something must remain upon the earth:

an unseen radiance,

an unheard word.

–Anna Margolin

This is the poem written by early 20th century Yiddish poet Anna Margolin from which Liorah Tchiprout has titled her upcoming solo exhibition at Fernberger, Dead tired from the burden of a dream, open July 12 through September 13, 2025. Tchiprout’s paintings exhibit the same “unseen radiance” and “unheard word” Margolin describes, placing them in some sort of liminal space between past and present.

Tchiprout’s works feel familiar, like romantic portraits of characters from standards of classic literature or folkloric tradition. However, rather than being plucked from the world of a Brontë sister or Hans Christian Andersen, the characters featured throughout these works come from a world Liorah herself has constructed, one containing pieces of herself, her friends, her and her parents dogs, characters from mystical Isaac Bashevis Singer novels, surrealist Alejandro Jodorowsky films, vampire films, history, and her own imagining.

Liorah Tchiprout’s paintings create a fictional world populated by recurring characters, drawn from her collection of handmade dolls. Crafted with wood and wire, covered in modelling clay, cloth, and human or animal hair, these dolls serve as the blueprint for Liorah’s paintings. These models offer both distance and intimacy; they are surrogates, companions, and witnesses to scenes both quiet and emotionally charged, yet often ambiguous. Setting the scene with her own creations, Liorah begins to fill in the gaps of real and imaginary on panel. The all-female cast of her previous exhibition, is now complemented by male figures—brother, lover, possible rescuer—opening up new relational dynamics and intimacies. The settings, too, have changed: these figures emerge outdoors under the sky, in woods, on boats, and on horseback, as well as in interiors with homemade doll scale furniture, staged in Tchiprout’s subterranean studio in London. The figures on horseback—so weighted with art historical and mythical resonance—are drawn from dolls on top of plastic toy horses. There are tender moments of couples on the verge of embrace, as well as scenes that depict the compassion and companionship between a young woman and her dog, and perhaps a self-portrait.

The visual references are both broad, plucked from culture at large, and deeply personal: her and her parents’ dogs, Hampstead Heath in London, Disney films, the dramatic staging of Tintoretto paintings. The dolls embody characters that are in flux, and tend to represent hybrids of many people and ideas: they are inspired by friends, especially artists; characters from Yiddish author, Issac Bashevis Singer’s, novels; characters from Alejandro Jodowosky and vampire films; figures from art history such as the Pierrot from Jean-Antoine Watteau’s paintings; and idealized self portraits as though from a parallel universe. As always, Tchiprout collects the titles of her paintings from varied literary sources, music and poetry: fragments of thought, emotion, or dream logic. They hint at the inner lives of the sitters instead of describing the contents of the painting.This is shaped by a strong connection to Yiddish women’s writing, and its recurrent themes of defiance and a longing to construct identity and meaning. Dead tired from the burden of a dream invites the viewer to a world that is intimate and fantastical. There are simultaneous feelings of warmth and isolation, tenderness and anxiety. Tchiprout’s works capture these emotions with characters and scenes that pirouette through innocence, spirituality and deliverance, offering a vision of the world that seems both bygone and utterly contemporary.

Liorah Tchiprout (b. 1992, London) lives and works in London. She received her MA from Camberwell College of Art, London (2020), and earned her BA in Fine Art Printmaking at University of Brighton (2016). Recent solo exhibitions include I love the flames, but not the embers, Pippy Houldsworth, London (2024); Two eyes wide open at the edge of dawn, Marlborough Gallery, London (2023); All Things are Kneeling, Brocket Gallery, London (2022); and Frontier at the Country of Night, Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester (2022). Dead tired from a burden of a dream is her first exhibition in the United States.

For images, press requests or more information, please contact Fernberger Gallery at info@fernbergergallery.com or call 917-831-6931.

Liorah Tchiprout (b. 1992, London) is an artist based in London.