Harmony and musical accord
It was a delight to venture out to Acre after such a long time. The gallery once situated in the Turkish Bazaar of the Old City has relocated to a much more densely packed area in the port region of the Old City.
The gallery itself is spacious and well lit, and one is immediately struck by the paintings, ceramics, jewelry and little sculptures of sorts that give as sense of lightness, brightness and alluring charm. There is also sense of harmony and musical accord. While the work is not is not questioning or shocking, it fits into a market spectrum that seeks a touch of lively beauty and aesthetic clarity if only sub-consciously.
The gallery represents 35 local artists, many of whom are new immigrants. Many more well-known artists are represented like Yossi Bergner, Nachman Goodman, Menashe Kadishman, Tanya Schwartz and a special collection of Leonid Efremov from 40 years ago.
Isaac Rabel is also represented; an artist that felt the shocking reality of war in the Yom Kippur War and has turned to his art for healing. He makes hand-made ceramics that reveal a certain sensitivity and sophistication. One might also be intrigued to find signed prints by Marc Chagall – beautiful, spiritually motivated works – from the original owner dated 1952. Alek Gerber’s work is fascinating incorporating abstraction and form in a wonderful synergy and suggesting a certain logical and formal power of sorts within his work. This then is developed in a sort of relief and three-dimensional play of a synagogue in various kinds of mixed media.
One might say a Judaic theme runs through the gallery. That would make sense considering this is a gallery in Israel. This adds to the general feeling of happiness that the exhibition exudes, a celebration of life and culture. Certainly, it is a valorization of the “pretty,” but it is on another level a hard-fought victory over the shadow towards a higher level unity. Thus the beauty of the surface is not superficial but rather deep, revealing strength, health and vigor.