NEW YORK, NY.- Bortolami presents its second solo exhibition of Avner Ben-Gal. Smackville draws from abstract and visual representations of the effects of opiate drugs: withdrawal, craving and usage. The show seeks to describe the moment of the chemical reaction when the toxic substance intrudes the body and is infused into the bloodstream. The works convey a will for redemption, rather than a need to be rehabilitated. The exhibition is divided into two new groups of works. One group is comprised of large drawings on paper, made mostly with black marker and slight touches of other colors. The drawn scenes depict human figures and animals being caught in an intensive, hysterical state. The lines are sharp, evoking needles, paralleling the conditions of the drawings surface, which is dry, and the state of being “dry” and suffering from withdrawal deliriums. The second group of works, consisting of paintings, addresses