FRESHPAINT CONTEMPOARAY ART FAIR. ISRAEL, APRIL 2011
Introduction:
The fresh paint contemporary art fair is a unique launch pad for promising, unrepresented artists as well as a window of opportunities for them, as seen in the “Green House” section, Green creating a feeling and a sense of freshness.
I do understand that it is not a government owned programmed but a project by two Israeli curators with supports from the government and other organization.
It is gradually gaining a lot of international attention and interest as I noticed and met many galleries, curators and directors of museums, art centers and cultural event makers from all over Europe and even the United States of America.
Day I
We set off to the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art at about 9am, a great place with about four exhibitions running simultaneously on four different part of the museum.
As you make your entrance to the building you will notice the great Bronze sculpture by Henry Moore an original and it was my honor to behold this piece, you will not miss it as long as u can see.
We were warmly welcomed by Ellen Ginton, the Senior Curator of Israeli Art who took us round to see the exhibitions. I particular love the works of the young Palestine video artist, whose subject was about the family and his grandpa, a rear recount of the family norms and believes
Then the photo exhibition of an Israeli photographer whose works are a collections of his travels for about 12 years in Europe, I particularly love his maturity and how he deals with his subjects, these are objects that we seldom stop to look at, like a tea cup, then most importantly how he takes a bit from a whole image to represent the subject like a self-portraits of still life object, sending you a little into away from the frames of the picture as you try to think about the whole from the bit…interesting.We were then taken to the new part of the museum designed by Architect Preston Cohen of the Harvard University, which is an ongoing project, with fantastic design arrangement depicting a great depth of architecture and nature, as you could see the synergy with the daylight through the wall as it lights up the exhibition halls.
The director of the museum also informs us that they will be opening this great state of the art museum this year in October, with the best collections of Israeli works.
Fresh Paint opening:
Fresh Paint Art Fair opened on the 4th of April at about 4 pm, we were warmly welcomed by Nitzan Wolanski and Yifat Gurion, the organizers of Fresh Paint at the entrance, briefing us about the aim of the show.
Essentially it is an event that brought together the best of the Israel’s Art galleries, Artists, the Green House (which is an opportunity for up-coming artist), and the commissioned works and projects.
So much was on display, that I was basically swimming through the minds of artist in Israel trying so much to understand, feel and appreciate each piece, one would spend a whole week trying endlessly as you are met with diverse styles, technics and expressions, ranging from installations, paintings, video art , photographs and the multi-media.
One will not afford to miss the Green House, as it houses a lot of potentials and promising talents who would make it into the international scene if given enough attention and exposure, time will fail me if I start recounting all the works at the green house, but in one word I will just try to describe what the green house was for me…the future of today’s art.
Day Two.
We made a quick visit to the MOBY ( the museum at Bat Yam)…MobY is being run by Milana Gitzin-Adiran the Director and Chief Curator of this great place of creative energy and synergy of community development in growing it potentials and creative capital.
I particularly love the idea of exchange that MobY stands for, I also learnt from the director that most of her team members are artist who had come to do one or two project in this place in the pass, what a synergy in creative administration, this I believe lead to the effective and maximum capacity in creative development of Israel’s contemporary art.
We were then taken round to see the video art installations and I noticed how they had maximized the wall of the building as a screen wall…the video art that fascinated me most was the one about the border crossing, which I understand is a global issue that is affecting many nations like Israel, we all know that illegal immigrant constitute a lot of insecurity and socio-economic challenges in a society.
I also notice some works that are diplomatic, that seeks to convey peace and not violence between Israel and their neighboring states, this is one thing I notice as soon as I came in contact with some art works on display from other galleries, you would be hoping to see a distinct feature of all the border disputes and the politics of war but yet it has been carefully dismissed as a major subject, yet it is as faint as the last stroke of brush on an artist canvas. I commend the government of Israel for this success.
I do respect Milana’s energy and the entire artist on your team…
We then made another visit to the Ashdod Museum of Art, about 3:00 pm of the same day, the trip to Ashdod Museum of Art took us through the old Tel-Aviv to the new and industrial part of Tel-Aviv, what I particularly love about this part is it architecture.
I notice a common feature on the roof of most houses; the cylinder can, creating a symmetric harmony on the roof, the architecture will remind you of cities in Europe at first contact with these beautiful structures yet with some distinct of originality peculiar to Israeli modern society.
The Ashod Art Museum Monart Center
We arrived here about mid-day, and were welcomed by the Curator Yuval Beaton, who took us round to see an on-going exhibition on the theme of road accident, abandoned vehicles, and mobility.
I love the way this theme was handled in different form by different artists, young and promising talents were all in display.
I particularly love one of the installation with tires, that created a huge wall like a barrier, you can see through the holes and yet you can’t go over, what an irony when artist consciously or subconsciously create pieces that transcend time and place.
It was a great display of paintings and mixed media works that were carefully selected to deal with a contemporary and global issues.
The Design Museum
At the design museum, one simply will not miss the architectural master piece of the structure, surprise would only be an attempt to describe the whole experience as you are told that the metal sheets that creates the spiral rails like descending pillars vertically coming from the top of the building down, creating an illusion of a cast wall, with three hues of brown is an oxidizing sheets, that changes colours naturally in time. This is simply a marvel of creative architecture and a masterpiece.
We met an on-going exhibition titled Post Fossil…excavating 21st Century creation, directed by Li Edelkoort.
I would revisit again this center if given another chance to experience the fast trend in design hopefully I will catch up, but I do doubt this considering the wave of globalization and the speed of trends and design, even in the words of Lidewij Edelkoort confirms this;
Time has come for extreme change. Society is ready to break away from the last century for good. To break with creative conventions, theoretic rules and stigmas that now are questioned, challenged and broken.
Designs is also transcending time and place either in prospective or retrospective as seen on display from the works of the 63 designers and artists whose works takes us back to pre-history and primordial roots of the very act of making things, utilize innovative methods to incorporate natural materials and archaic forms into their creations in a Post-fossil fuel existence.
Maybe a personal visit to this exhibition will better describe the grace and awe that I experienced or better still the following words on the wall at the beginning of the exhibition will give you an insight of the creative imagination that was graciously exhibited by the artists and designers on display as they creatively went back in time, in our scientific and technology driven age. They incorporated animal skins and fur, organic materials in creating contemporary fascinating masterpieces, opening a window into the past and modern human existence and lifestyle…simply put again: a traditional modernity.
The animal world would keep invading and transforming the life of humans represented in more abstract or less narrative manner. Skins and fur are becoming more dominant materials animated by organic form and skeleton structures. Our Relations with living organism is at stake, therefore, humans will share and care for each other. Soon the world will discover that we are all family
