Oren Ben-Morah and Elham Rokni share the main gallery in two parallel solo exhibitions. At the base of Rokni’s exhibition, titled “Do not Touch the Tray of Cucumbers” is a reference to an Iranian hospitality custom of serving fresh cucumbers to guests, usually alongside alcohol. The cucumber bowl is the reference of the large scale oil painting on linen, which lays like a real-size carpet on the floor of the space. The name of the exhibition references “Do not Touch the Casserole Tray” a the sentence from the song “Can not Play” by Kiosk, an Iranian rock band. The warning within the title is perhaps directed at a personal, restrained source, which points to and questions cultural codes of behavior, and in the transition to the representative class of a floor mat that is painted on canvas is also loaded with humor.
