Flower power on both sides

The Jaffa Art Salon presents Arab.

By BARRY DAVIS
‘Take it With a Smile,’ by Yaara Oren. (photo credit: Courtesy)
‘Take it With a Smile,’ by Yaara Oren.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
I t seems perfectly natural to hear that Yair Rothman entered the art gallery arena from left field.
A few years back, the co-owner of the Jaffa Art Salon together with Amir Neuman Ahuvia, had hopes of making a name for himself – and some big bucks – in the hi-tech sector, but things didn’t go the way he’d hoped.
“I am a qualified management and industry engineer, and I worked in hi-tech for 10 years, but I wasn’t making professional progress or making money,” recalls Rothman. “Yes, I had a family to feed but I decided it was time to do something for which I have a passion – art.”
In fact, Rothman is a dab hand at creating works of art himself. He is entirely self-taught and says the decision to open the gallery along with Neuman Ahuvia fed off a potent mix of positive and negative vibes. “If you have to think about making a living in a risky field, you have to have the courage of conviction and be desperate.
Desperation can also be a good thing.
As you can see, it led me to this.”
“This” is a large exhibition space in the Jaffa Port which, when we met a few weeks ago, housed a highly varied show of works based on the time-honored theme of flowers. The exhibiting artists came from all sectors of society and ethnic backgrounds, including Israelis and Palestinians.
The “They Paint Flowers” exhibition took in a very wide range of approaches and aesthetic mind-sets, and included well-known painters such as the internationally renowned Jan Rauchwerger, and some lesser-known artists as Marek Yanai, painter-photographer Yaara Oren, Druse poet-painter Asad Azi and Palestinian artist Karim Abu Shakra.
The exhibition blurb draws attention to social and other injustices committed in these parts, as well as to the information overload we are subjected to on a regular basis. “‘They Paint Flowers’ examines ‘the other celebrating party’ despite, and possibly as a result of, the endless suffering, shocking events and lack of justice in our lives, in light of the present reality which is awash with visual noise and flooded with technological gadgetry.
[In the midst of all this, it is] actually those who go about their work in a way which seems almost impossible and irrelevant, who stick out.”
Indeed, the exhibition comprises a bunch of alluring and wide-ranging works that make their statement in an unassuming, although highly appealing manner.
The viewing experience at the Jaffa Art Salon is a commensurately relaxed affair. The Warehouse 2 venue has an open, almost cavernous feel about it and there is plenty of room to take in the works at your physical, temporal and emotional leisure. “I had a concept in mind before we opened the salon,” explains Rothman. “I didn’t want to set up yet another ‘white cube gallery’ – you know, just more of the same. I thought art should be sold differently, from a place where there is a lot of movement, of people, in a large space.”
The Rothman ethos also calls for creations to be accessible to all and sundry. “It should be affordable art, which is nevertheless high-standard art. You have to strike the right balance between very good art and affordable art. That’s not easy. You can show bad stuff which is inexpensive, or expensive art that is high quality.
Anyone can do that. If you offer good art at reasonable prices, the middle classes will also be able to buy art, not just the very wealthy.”
We are talking about tactile art here.
“Yes, there is the virtual world of imagery, and there is photography, but I like to see and smell art. I like to press up to a painting and breathe in the smell of the oil paint. I want to see the brush movement of the painter from close quarters,” says Rothman. “There is something so invigorating in that.”
The quality-price range formula appears to finally be paying dividends.
“It was quite tough in the first couple of years of the gallery,” continues Rothman, “ but in the last two years we have had people of all kinds, from all wage brackets and from all over the country, coming here to buy works of art. That is very encouraging.”
The quality component, as far as Rothman and Neuman Ahuvia are concerned, knows no geographic, ethnic or political borders. “The gallery is located in Jaffa, which is a binational Jewish-Arab city, and there are a lot of wonderful Palestinian artists around – not just from Jaffa, from Umm el-Fahm and all over the country – so I think it is only natural to have works by Palestinian artists in our exhibitions. If we have a group show of, say 20-30 artists, we try to have half of them by Palestinians.”
Rothman says that, over the years, he has discerned some clear differences in approach between Israeli and Palestinian artists. “I think the Israelis tend to shy away from symbols and narratives that relate to the army, war and ‘occupation,’ and they go more for the general global artistic school of thought that has no political context.
On the other hand, the Palestinians are very strongly connected with the land and the family, pastoral landscapes – olive trees, birds.”
That, notes Rothman, also impacts on the Palestinians’ disciplinary take.
“The whole area of contemporary art is foreign to them, which I think is fully justified. They are connected with where they live. You can smell the soil in their work.”
For more information: www.jaffaartsalon.com/