GIL HALLER – RELICS (2018)
Although it seems that figurative art is self-explanatory, Haller’s paintings present riddles that require deciphering. He started collecting images after his parents passed away, both of them were holocaust survivors. While clearing out their home he found boxes of carefully kept photos, each representing a cherished memory that survived the war. Some photos are of known family members but others are unidentifiable, leaving the artist to make up his own stories from these estranged but nostalgic images.
Haller became interested in historical images and began adding to his parents collection from old magazines and internet sites. Like an archaeologist he removed his images from their original context into his private archive, with the clear intention of using them as material for his art.
The juxtaposition of images from various sources is not obvious and threatens the natural need for coherency on the one hand, but on the other, activates the viewer as a narrator, forced to create his own story.
This project offers a journey through time, through images imbued with historical meaning. Haller places his art on the fine line between classic painting and a contemporary vision. The sharp viewer will recognize classic themes such as the crucifixion, Isaac’s binding and of course the classic still life. He will also notice that the artist created a distance between himself and the art that eschews emotion.
As objects of the past are the relics of today, thus objects of the present will be the relics of tomorrow.
LEEAD SHAMIR – OPEN ENDS (2016)
Open ends imply a process, a quest and indeed, Leead Shamir sees the work of art as an infinite course of action. The extremes that appeared in her first solo show in 2013, “A breath of air” continue to echo in her new work: beauty and grotesque, exposure and concealment, density and space, but here, three years after, we witness the maturation of a high quality, complex artistic voice, manifested in powerful, confident strokes and well built compositions.
This exhibition was defined by a distancing of the artist from the role of a storyteller and a new devotion to the pure language of art: line and color. Although Leead has not completely shed the story (so few artists actually do), moving towards abstraction brings her closer to the freedom she seeks, that which she can only obtain in her art.
AVRAHAM BINDER – SEA OF LIGHTS (2016)
Avraham Binder was an enthusiastic and a prolific painter with an extraordinary flair for color and true qualities of a virtuoso artist, perfected during a career that lasted 70 years. His skills were specifically noticeable in his watercolor paintings, a technique that requires a high proficiency. Yet many of Binder’s oil paintings also have the translucency of watercolors due to his amazing talent.
This exhibition presented a humble collection of Binder’s extensive variety of work, which has kept its freshness and relevance even 15 years after his death.
BRISS – CHILDHOOD MEMORIES (2015)
The childhood memories of Briss, from Jassy, his home town in Romania, connect two contrasting worlds. Life in the large Jewish community of Jassy, instilled the Jewish culture deep into his being. Concurrently, Briss was exposed to the Christian world, rich with traditional Romanian art and the famous icons of Jassy, the former capital of Moldavia, recognized also as the cultural capital of Romania.
MASHA BERMAN – The Eye of the Storm (2015)
In the eye of the storm there is room for only one: Masha Berman, on account of the fact that in Masha’s total world there is no “we” but only “I”. Beneath her expressive style underlies a deep knowledge of painting and art history, as can be expected of a graduate of the Soviet tradition of art studies. Her paintings expose her stormy character and extreme moods.
Masha Berman died of cancer in 2013 at the premature age of 63. She clung to her paintbrush till the very end, as to a lifebelt. Masha was a very private person, disconnected from the art scene, although her charismatic personality attracted many. Nevertheless, she remained reserved, believing that her art represented her better than any words could. Only towards her end did she open a window to her private world, in a video, initiated by curator Doron Polack.
LEEAD SHAMIR – A BREATH OF AIR (2013)
It is only out of density that one can can breath as only from darkness can the light be seen. Thus, Leead Shamir confronts her demons and searches for space in her creations – diving to the deep and rising for a breath of air. She erupts with force, exposing, covering and exposing again, spilling and scratching. Her art conveys her inner conflicts between beauty and ugliness, cleanliness and dirt, exposure and concealment, density and space. In her little studio in a shed in her Kibbutz, among fields and eucalyptus trees she creates multi layered worlds , that reflect her personality.
BRISS – ROOTS (2010)
The childhood memories of Briss, from Jassy, his home town in Romania, connect two contrasting worlds. Life in the large Jewish community of Jassy, instilled the Jewish culture deep into his being. Concurrently, Briss was exposed to the Christian world, rich with traditional Romanian art and the famous icons of Jassy, the former capital of Moldavia, recognized also as the cultural capital of Romania.
