Shenkar & Haaretz Newspaper Team Up To Do Art

Shekar College of Art & Design teamed up with Haaretz Newspaper to do some interesting art. The recent exhibit, which juuuuust ended, is entitled "The Materials From Which The Words Are Made". It showcases an array of exciting design and visual art, all fashioned from Haaretz newspapers in an exploration of the relevance of the 'paper' in newspaper and it's material value. It also delves deep into the evolution of the news media today.

For those who didn't make it to the show, here are some sweet shots!

Israeli Art for All! Omanoot.com Launches New Visual Arts Section!

Omanoot.com, the new Israeli start-up which has already emerged as a unique website showcasing Israeli art and promoting Israel through the arts, has just launched its brand new Visual Arts Section allowing visitors to peruse and BUY Israeli artwork.

What Omanoot really does best is concentrate amazing Israeli art into a site that defines a culture by its artistic content. So if you support Israel, Omanoot's new Visual Arts section offers you a unique and beneficial way to do keep on supporting it!

The stunning new Visual Arts section showcases a handpicked selection of both established and emerging Israeli artists, and artists working in Israel. Not only is the new design stunning, but the artwork and artists have been carefully selected to feature diverse pieces and absolutely gorgeous works.

From L to R: Jacob Feldman, Funky Allenby Street; Dina Bova,Where do We Come From?; Dina Bova, Eyes Wide Shut

Although the "St-art"-up , Omanoot went live in January 2011, their only fully functional section was their Film section which allows visitors to stream, for FREE, nearly 20 different independent films by Israeli screen writers and directors. It also allows your to peruse trailers of well known movies, such as Ajami, by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani.

Omanoot has been showcasing Israel’s flourishing film scene to an international audience since its launch in January and has already received exuberant attention from the media, the general public, and significantly, from the artists themselves.

Now, with the new Visual Arts section, you can browse artworks, peruse informational artists’ pages and explore the world of the Israeli visual arts. And, your can purchase limited edition prints as well as original artworks of photography, painting and mixed media works.

While the originals are for the true collectors, the prints are priced quite nicely and range from ~$250-$300 per print.  For those whose walls are far from bare, these artworks also make stunning one-of-a-kind gifts that support the arts and support Israel.

Omanoot Featured Artist, Ahikam Seri, Curious After Terror Attack

So, if you haven't taken a look, now is the time! I really think this site is onto something big...

“Our goal at Omanoot is to open wide the doors to the Israeli art market: to make it accessible to a broader audience online, to help develop the next generation of Israeli art collectors and to disseminate the works of Israel's artistic talent” says Omanoot’s founder Edoe Cohen. In the near future, Omanoot will also feature Israeli literature, lesson plans for educators and Israeli music.

Yes, yes and yes.

Endnote: Omanoot, which means “art” in Hebrew, is the brainchild of Cohen, who received a grant from the ROI Community of Young Jewish Innovators, a worldwide network of young social entrepreneurs created by American Jewish philanthropist Lynn Schusterman. Cohen is currently working with a team of international volunteers (moi included!) to continue developing and promoting the website.

Tel Aviv Project Palazzo Takes Street Art Indoors

"Think back to your high school note book. Now imagine all of the cool, crazy, almost psychedelic doodles that filled your loose leaf margins covering the walls, ceilings and floors of your apartment. Take the doors off their hinges, add a splash of color and cool lighting, and ....you have Project Palazzo.

Project Palazzo is the work of two young artists and one sociology major who moved into a crumbling Tel Aviv apartment. Over the course of three months they started painting, drawing and doodling all over the walls, documenting the process using still photograpy and video.

The three happened upon an exhibition space waiting to be materialized when they were thrown out of their apartment and scrounging around for somewhere to live. One of their mothers had just bought an old house in Tel Aviv, just along Park HaYarkon and, seeing the boys were desperate, offered the dingy house to them, temporarily. That's when the idea hit them, and they decided to go for it.

The exhibit opened on Friday Feb 4th with a fantastic turn out despite the wet weather. Champaigne, wine, cola, bisli and bamba greeted visitors who entered the front door with eyes wide open. Spectators walk into a fantasty house, with strange creaturs scrawles along the plaster walls and spray-painted monsters haunting the shower." -Omanoot notes on facebook.

The exhibit continued every day last week from 6pm-10pm. If you missed it, I put together a short clip for Omanoot.com. Check it out!

Israeli Art Shines on Omanoot.com

Forget Achbar HaIR or Time Out Israel. If you want to know what's going on in Israel's art world, a brand new Israeli website was launched yesterday to help you out: Omanoot.com.

Omanoot.com, (Omanoot -אמנות- meaning "art" in Hebrew) is the web site that I've been waiting for since the moment I arrived in Israel. Welcome to the first well-designed, accesible web site/ magazine dedicated to the arts. This includes the areas of dance, film, visual arts, literature and music. And what does this new website promise? I'll outline a few of the fantastic features for you here:

The Last Supper: Israeli Havurah Style

The big 30. This was the year that I started feeling it. No,  I'm not quite there yet, but many of my chaverim (חברים, friends) have reached that nice ripe age of no longer young, but not quite old. You'd think that after about ten 30th birthdays this year we'd start running out of ideas of presents for friends. But, we somehow managed to squeeze out another creation.

In honor of my friend Noa's 30th year of life and in light of the fact that she, her husband Nir and their little girl Tom will be moving this winter to Hong Kong for two years, our branja (ברנג'ה, group of friends) got together to do something really special.  We decided that she needed to take with her something that would remind her of us day in and day out, and ensure she never forget how awesome she was to us. Irony becomes us so we took the old clichéd "Last Supper" painting and made it our own. Of course, Noa had to be Jesus. That went without saying.

So, I know that today's post is a bit of a digression from my typical Tel Aviv ramblings and Israeli political posts, but I thought you might enjoy this evolution of a 30th birthday present by my Israeli Havurah.

The paintings on the wall are gone!

Photoshop is Unearthly

Nearly Complete.

Final verion. Printed on canvass and then painted on top with acrylic.  Noa looks at her gift and says  "This is good. "

Israel Museum Has a Face Lift

I just got back from an outing to the newly improved Israel Museum.  And you know what?  It looks great. 

Here's a map of the musem:

Israel Museum Map

The museum was well-planned overall, and especially accessible to tourists from all over the world.  Nearly all audio and video was played in English with Hebrew subtitles, and all print that had to be read was available in Arabic, English, Hebrew and sometimes Russian.

My favorite sections were the parts I've circled in pink. These were the special exhibits and contemporary art exhibits that were well laid-out, well organized and offered the most bang for the buck.  It's stuff you haven't seen before, and that's what makes it special.

I don't mean to imply that their Archaeology, Modern Art and Jewish Art and Life sections, etc, are not well done.  Their collections are impressive, well-organized, and beautifully restored.  I just happen to be drawn to  eye-catching modern art that you just don't find at other museums in Israel.

My favorite temporary exhibition was "פעימות" which literally means "strokes" or "heartbeats" and was in my opinion poorly translated as "Still Moving".  Despite the poor translation, the exhibit was conceptually and aesthetically bewitching.  All of the pieces in the exhibit in one way or another played on time whether it be space time, sensory time, frozen time.

The exhibit included a small plastic baby pool filled with slowly swirling water whose swirl was regulated by three motorized pumps hidden in the bottom of the pool.  A scatter of floating ceramic blows and wine glasses sat swirling in the water, slowly moving as if together, but then delightfully chiming against one another at seemingly random moments.

Picture from :http://www.imj.org.il 

After passing the pool, we entered a series of white rooms and corridors constructed like a small house, with the walls and ceilings covered by black paper butterflies seemingly frozen in movement.  The effect was at once frightening, mesmerizing and beautiful.  The piece by the Mexican artist Carlos Amorales, is called "Black Cloud". 

Picture from: http://www.casino-luxembourg.lu/html_en/expositions/expo2008.htm

Paper Butterflies Cover the Walls and Ceiling

Another beautiful piece called "Table" by Junya Ishigami featured a long, tall table upon which trays of herbs, flowers, seeds and spices were laid out romantically, evoking what might be the kitchen of a rich and playful heiress in the south of France. At first glance, one doesn't notice that the table is slowly undulating up and down, in long smooth bounces, but as one nears, it becomes clear that the long, thin wooden plank of the table is silently moving, without disrupting one perfectly placed item.  Nearly everyone, curious as to how the table remains in continuous movement, bends down to check for a motor or spring beneath the table.  But it is the museum guard who keeps it moving: every few seconds pushing down on the thin plank of wood. 

Picture by Chiaki Hayashi

The last piece in this exhibit that really stood out was a slow motion video that played on a small television framed so as to appear as a painting or photograph.  The short, almost 4 minute film begins with about two minutes of frozen video of a pomegranate and head of lettuce hanging from a string at a window sill, just above a sliced pumpkin and zucchini.  I was sure it was some sort of digital still life.

Then, suddenly, with a "whoosh", a speeding bullet flies into the pomegranate from behind spewing juice and seeds, and rupturing its skin. I jumped despite the fact that all of this is filmed in extreme slow motion.  Every drop of juice is shown in immense detail, a violence of destruction deconstructed with the hypnotizing, slow swinging motion of the broken fruit.

So, if you are making your way to Jerusalem, DO NOT miss the new Israel Museum. It's open on Saturdays till 5:00pm (I know, I was shocked too).  If you're a student, bring your ID card- you get a few shekels off.  Oh, and did I mention, the place is HEAVILY air conditioned?!  (Huge plus!!!)