Gallery of Modern Art - Old Jaffa
Eight Jerusalem artists - Aside from the geographical common denominator, the only other possible link, at least between six of these eight artists of three or four artistic generations, is that all or part of their works shown are based on figures. Mordecai Ardon’s two works, not recent, look like tasteful textured patch abstractions of dry landscapes. Tova Berlinski’s abstract pastels on paper contain the calligraphic animation and colour intensity that are the hallmarks of her most mature work. But in her fleshy heavy figures those qualities seem agonizingly imprisoned by the clear-cut forms and picture divisions. Avraham Ofek shows groups of figures sharply drawn but handled, along with their backgrounds and surroundings, in a broad painterly manner. The concept should seem dated but the sombre richness of the colours, thes imple-seeming but intricately balanced compositions and the convincing humanity of the figures (he is one of the few Israeli artists who does not use figures merely as sources for forms) comes as a pleasant surprise. Tamara Rikman-Charni presents the only sculptures in the show. In all of them she condenses the human figure into simple smooth forms. “Blue Angel“ is a stumpy figure poised on its single large leg. Its entire terra-cotta surface is painted a light blue. Its' concept strikes a curious ambivalence between the cute and the grotesque. In “Woman with a Mirror“ the main form is a cone. The figure is seated on an edge (it has no base of its own) and the dress and lower body is the cone which, when seen en face, presents a circular plane with legs protruding from it. Broadly representative of the ten pieces on view, each of these two works draws from different art traditions but each is personal. Four of draughtsman Yoram Bosov's five pen drawings deal with jet warplanes and pilots but their meanings are obtuse. No correlation at all is discernible between the odd titles and the images themselves. These are metallic volumes and helmetted figures interspersed with long organic-looking tubing suggestive of viscera. These drawings are not self-evident which makes the titles important. The fifth work, “The Pleasures of Being Jewish,“ features a single figure, its contours barely visible beneath more of the binding tubes, and suggests sheer suffering or masochistic pleasures. Its Hebrew title translates as “Portrait of a Jew as Reveller.“ Most of the abstract watercolours of Louise Schatz are concerned with the now somewhat threadbare integration of colours and textures through overlapping patches and are typical of her habitual style. However, one, a watercolour collage, combines letters, small scraps of paper and colour textures in a contrasting composition of considerably more interest. Naomi Sultanik, unlike Ofek, does use figures as forms and her works can be regarded as abstract. Juicy colours, inventive soft forms and a method based on coordinated improvisations have produced paintings of distinct originality. The “Illusions“ series of Zvi Tolkovsky is based on predominantly hardedge forms contrasted with painterly elements in the figure. The latter, despite their stylized colours and lack of realistic textures, seem almost documentary in their reality. The fantasy approach has allowed him to combine shards of reality with totally abstract qualities in utter freedom. For instance, undulating flat shapes, floating boxes, a figure merging with a striped armchair, bright off-beat colours, etc., combine with perfect ease, cemented together by compositional rightness and the sheer beauty of it all.
THE JERUSALEM POSTMAGAZINE
Old Jaffa (Gallery of Modern Art)
Originally published: 19/03/1971
Gallery of Modern Art - Old Jaffa
Eight Jerusalem artists - Aside from the geographical common denominator, the only other possible link, at least between six of these eight artists of three or four artistic generations, is that all or part of their works shown are based on figures. Mordecai Ardon’s two works, not recent, look like tasteful textured patch abstractions of dry landscapes. Tova Berlinski’s abstract pastels on paper contain the calligraphic animation and colour intensity that are the hallmarks of her most mature work. But in her fleshy heavy figures those qualities seem agonizingly imprisoned by the clear-cut forms and picture divisions. Avraham Ofek shows groups of figures sharply drawn but handled, along with their backgrounds and surroundings, in a broad painterly manner. The concept should seem dated but the sombre richness of the colours, thes imple-seeming but intricately balanced compositions and the convincing humanity of the figures (he is one of the few Israeli artists who does not use figures merely as sources for forms) comes as a pleasant surprise. Tamara Rikman-Charni presents the only sculptures in the show. In all of them she condenses the human figure into simple smooth forms. “Blue Angel“ is a stumpy figure poised on its single large leg. Its entire terra-cotta surface is painted a light blue. Its' concept strikes a curious ambivalence between the cute and the grotesque. In “Woman with a Mirror“ the main form is a cone. The figure is seated on an edge (it has no base of its own) and the dress and lower body is the cone which, when seen en face, presents a circular plane with legs protruding from it. Broadly representative of the ten pieces on view, each of these two works draws from different art traditions but each is personal. Four of draughtsman Yoram Bosov's five pen drawings deal with jet warplanes and pilots but their meanings are obtuse. No correlation at all is discernible between the odd titles and the images themselves. These are metallic volumes and helmetted figures interspersed with long organic-looking tubing suggestive of viscera. These drawings are not self-evident which makes the titles important. The fifth work, “The Pleasures of Being Jewish,“ features a single figure, its contours barely visible beneath more of the binding tubes, and suggests sheer suffering or masochistic pleasures. Its Hebrew title translates as “Portrait of a Jew as Reveller.“ Most of the abstract watercolours of Louise Schatz are concerned with the now somewhat threadbare integration of colours and textures through overlapping patches and are typical of her habitual style. However, one, a watercolour collage, combines letters, small scraps of paper and colour textures in a contrasting composition of considerably more interest. Naomi Sultanik, unlike Ofek, does use figures as forms and her works can be regarded as abstract. Juicy colours, inventive soft forms and a method based on coordinated improvisations have produced paintings of distinct originality. The “Illusions“ series of Zvi Tolkovsky is based on predominantly hardedge forms contrasted with painterly elements in the figure. The latter, despite their stylized colours and lack of realistic textures, seem almost documentary in their reality. The fantasy approach has allowed him to combine shards of reality with totally abstract qualities in utter freedom. For instance, undulating flat shapes, floating boxes, a figure merging with a striped armchair, bright off-beat colours, etc., combine with perfect ease, cemented together by compositional rightness and the sheer beauty of it all.
THE JERUSALEM POSTMAGAZINE
Old Jaffa (Gallery of Modern Art)
Originally published: 19/03/1971