It was a delight to venture out to Acre after such a long time. The gallery once situated in the Turkish Bazaar of the Old City has relocated to a much more densely packed area in the port region of the Old City.
The gallery represents 35 local artists, many of whom are new immigrants. Many more well-known artists are represented like Yossi Bergner, Nachman Goodman, Menashe Kadishman, Tanya Schwartz and a special collection of Leonid Efremov from 40 years ago.
Isaac Rabel is also represented; an artist that felt the shocking reality of war in the Yom Kippur War and has turned to his art for healing. He makes hand-made ceramics that reveal a certain sensitivity and sophistication. One might also be intrigued to find signed prints by Marc Chagall – beautiful, spiritually motivated works – from the original owner dated 1952. Alek Gerber’s work is fascinating incorporating abstraction and form in a wonderful synergy and suggesting a certain logical and formal power of sorts within his work. This then is developed in a sort of relief and three-dimensional play of a synagogue in various kinds of mixed media.
One might say a Judaic theme runs through the gallery. That would make sense considering this is a gallery in Israel. This adds to the general feeling of happiness that the exhibition exudes, a celebration of life and culture. Certainly, it is a valorization of the “pretty,” but it is on another level a hard-fought victory over the shadow towards a higher level unity. Thus the beauty of the surface is not superficial but rather deep, revealing strength, health and vigor.