Still Waters into Living Colors celebrates the remarkable diversity and artistic expressions within the Israeli Aquarellist community, shedding light on the delicate possibilities and captivating beauty of watercolor as a medium of artistic exploration.
Despite its significant artistic heritage in both Israeli and global art history, watercolor often remains regrettably overlooked within the contemporary Israeli art scene. This exhibition serves as a platform to elevate and honor the profound artistry of Israeli Aquarellists, offering a unique glimpse into the rich and evocative world of watercolor.
Exhibition Opening: 03/09/2023, 7:00 pm
Exhibition Viewing: 03/09/2023 - 17/12/2023
Artists Featured: Yonat Cintra, Inna Davidovich, Meydad Eliyahu, Maureen Fain, Beni Gassenbauer, Rachel Kainy, Sara Sefton Shor, Shirley Siegal, Pamela Silver
Image: Beni Gassenbauer, Across the street, 2020
Curator: Lola Vilenkin
About the Exhibition
Watercolor, an esteemed artistic medium with a rich historical lineage dating back centuries, masterfully embodies grace, intricacy, stormy intensity, and captivating beauty. Presented here are remarkable works of Israeli Aquarellists, showcasing a rich tapestry of artistic styles and visions. The nine artists demonstrate their varied approaches, techniques, and conceptual methods to infuse the medium with ingenuity and creativity. Some embrace the inherent spontaneity of watercolor, allowing the flow to shape the evolution of their creations, while others employ deliberate manipulations to exert control over the spread of pigments and their absorption on paper.
Beni Gassenbauer leads us on an enthralling journey through figurative sharply focused landscapes and cityscapes, capturing with perfect perspective every detail, texture, hue, and interplay of the radiant Israeli sun.
Maureen Fain creates deeply personal watercolor portraiture. She reveals her profound sensitivity as she skillfully unveils the subjects' essence and individuality on paper. Fain's exceptional talent is her ability to create beautiful yet lively and detailed portraits, as she captures the physical and emotional presence of her models.
Sara Sefton Shor offers in her drawings a captivating glimpse into the delicate beauty of Jerusalem's urban existence. With skilled brushwork and a keen artistic eye, she breathes life into the worn city elements, infusing them with poetic allure. Shor transforms old dilapidated gates and walls into unique portraits of the city, preserving the essence of Jerusalem's character with each delicate brushstroke.
Meydad Eliyahu is presenting a breathtaking series of dried weeds that continues the age-old tradition of botanical watercolor painting. Delicately and almost reverently, he captures the fragility and beauty of these often-overlooked plants. During one of his stays in Cracow, Poland, Eliyahu became fascinated with the void left by the absence of Jewish life, and he collected these humble weeds from the streets of Kazimierz, initially as an intuitive act of gathering. However, upon completing the series, he realized that these weeds had a deeper universal connection to memories and commemoration as if the act of pressing flowers in books in order to preserve them is an attempt to conquer time.
Inna Davidovich maintains a delicate balance of color and form while employing various techniques and occasionally incorporating external objects like plates and mesh to create desired shapes and textures. Her abstract watercolor compositions are a testament to her versatile approach. Inspired by the literary works of Italo Calvino, Davidovich’s art often ventures into the realm of surrealism. Her abstracts are the outcome of an internal battlefield where the artist navigates between asserting control over the outcome and yielding to the fluidity of water while exploring the dynamic relationship between artistic expression and the inherent unpredictability of the medium.
Shirley Sigal, a virtuoso artist and master of perspective, intertwines her proficient draftsmanship with the antiquities, nature, and people who visit historical sites, offering a unique viewpoint that illuminates the interplay of the past and the present. Enthralled by the field of archaeology, Sigal joined official excavations, adeptly capturing the inaugural encounters between people and the historical continuum.
Yonat Cintra transports us to the kaleidoscopic realms of Tel Aviv's Shapira neighborhood during the pandemic. When the Israeli public was restricted to a limited radius around their homes, the artist developed a new relationship with her neighborhood, depicting her cityscapes with tenderness and longing.
Pamela Silver invites introspection into her abstract compositions, revealing the intricacies of the subconscious. Inspired by nature and the colorful Jerusalem garden surrounding her house and studio, Silver's paintings transcend the mundane to different worlds, levels of consciousness, and moments in time. Her artworks serve as windows into her dreams and inner world, where vibrant colors and bursting energy create an immersive experience for the viewer.
Rachel Kainy, preoccupied with the conflict between nature and culture, constructs a unique symbolic language, a result of a deep internal working process. Her enigmatic landscapes and compositions in watercolor and ink embody personal, ecological, and historical themes, woven into a rich tapestry of cultural myths, global concerns, and personal associations.