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Category: Galleries And Artists

  • Liliyane Mendel Gallery Safed

    In 2011 Liliyane Mendel immigrated to Israel from Capetown where she had studied, taught and created art for many years. Her growing interest in Torah texts and Jewish traditions inspired her to move to safed and open her gallery of spiritual art in the cit

    Liliyane Mendel

    y’s Artist Quarter.

    Background

    Liliyane Mendel was born in Southwest Africa, the country that is known today as Namibia. Her family moved to South Africa when she was a child. Liliyane studied Art History and Fine Arts as a graduate student at the University of Petoria and the University of South Africa. She worked as the director of a center for art and architecture while teaching art to students at all levels.

    Interest in Judaism

    Following the passing of her Jewish husband Liliyane began to study Judaism in depth. She was quickly engrossed in the study of Torah and Talmud where she saw a profound depth. She was also fascinated by “gematria” — numerical meanings of Hebrew letters — which gave new and rich meanings to Hebrew words, letters and texts.

    As time went by Liliyana started to include elements of her Jewish studies in her artwork. She infused her works with a

    spiritual essence.Liliyane’s studies. combined with her Jewishly-inspired artwork, inspired her to move to Israel. She chose to settle in Tzfat because the city offers an intimate character and numerous opportunities to develop spiritually and artistically.

    Gallery

    the Liliyane Mendel gallery exhibits Liliyane’s paintings — images which are related to Torah texts, Hebrew letters and Jewi

    sh rituals and traditions. Liliyane draws her inspiration from visual imagery that surrounds her as it expresses Jewish spirituality. She strives to weave a matrix of power, joy, soul and insights into her paintings, drawings and sculptures.

    Liliyane’s work includes picturgraph murals which are formed by Hebrew letters of a root verb. She comploys the v

    erb to illustrate texts,  illustrations which surround Hebrew letters, interplays of Hebrew letters and words and Biblical scenes that are surroun

    ded by Torah scripts.

    Liliyane’s gallery is located on Tet Vav Street in Tzfat’s Old Jewish Quarter. She can be reached by phone at 050-702-1486 or by email at la.mendel@gmail.com.

    Media

    Liliyana works with a wide range of materials and mediums. Her drawings are produced using pencils, charcoals and pastels. She paints with tempra, oil and watercolor paints and sculpts with clay.H

  • Keren Souza-Kohn

    For individuals who are searching for an expressive art experience that combines a deep spirituality with a flowing grac

    Keren Souza Kohn

    e and a vibrant “joie de vivre,” the new permanent exhibit by well-known artist Keren Souza-Kohn fulfills all expectations.

    Background

    Souza-Kohn incorporates her life journey into her paintings in which she conveys her evolving relationships with her family, her community and her heritage. Souza-Kohn was born into a family of artists. Her mother was an actress and her father was Francis Newton Souza, a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group and an influential leader in modern Indian art. Souza-Kohn grew up in a non-religiously-affiliated home but her mother’s Jewish roots were to play a great role in Souza-Kohn’s development as an artist as well as in her personal life.

    Bohemian

    Souza-Kohn grew up in a bohemian atmosphere which was inundated with the art world. She studied art but her “progressive” art institute didn’t provide the kind of technical instruction that many artists find vital and Souza-Kohn was left to find her own way in gaining her individual artistic perspective.

    As Keren’s personal style matured and expanded she developed her own specific approaches which involved imbuin

    g her works with richness and meanings.

    Spiritual Explorations

    At the same time that Souza-Kohn’s artistic style was expanding her personal life was changing as well. Souza-Kohn began to explore her Jewish roots about which she had previously known very little. When her eldest son was born she felt a vision that sh

    owed him as a new Jewish soul whose link to his chain of ancestors was unbroken.

    At that time, Souza-Kohn was not yet religiously observant but she named her son “Solomon” as an affirmation of his Jewish legacy. Throughout the past 20 years Souza-Kohn has been drawing closer to her Jewish roots through Hassidic teachings which strongly influence her artwork.

    Keren’s early works resembled her father’s artistic style with hard edges and strong colors. Her new approach involv

    es a more mystical style. She is fascinated by the Hebrew letters, with their numerical connocations and mystical meanings. She is also influenced by the teaching of the Chabad Hassidic movement which combines the practicality of day-to-day living — including outreach to unaffiliated Jews — with an intensely spiritual system of belief. Currently, her works focus on G-d’s goodness, both hidden and revealed, as it has affected her own personal journey.

    Permanent Exhibition

    Keren’s new permanent exhibition in the Old Jewish Quarter of Safed is, in her words, her “opportunity to unwind” and put to can

    vas her expressions of spirituality and faith.  Her gallery is located on Bar Yochai Street in Tzfat’s Old Jewish Quarter, near the Old City’s Central Square.

    She can be contacted at 077-201-2964 or souzakohngallery@gmail.com

  • Doron Cohen Silversmith

    Background

    Doron was born into a Yemenite family that has been producing hand silverwork for many generations. The family is kno

    Doron Cohen Silversmithwn throughout the world as producers of fine silverwork, including jewelry and Judaica.

    Doron’s family includes well-known silverwork artists and artisans who have been creating intricate silverwork — much of it with Jewish motifs and imagery — for hundreds of years. Doron Cohen’s father lived and worked in Ramat Gan, just outside of Tel Aviv, where he produced unique silverwork. Growing up, Doron wasn’t interested in the craft, but as a young man he had a dream in which he saw himself working with silver. The following morning Doron asked his father to interpret the dream. Doron’s father told Doron that the dream indicated that silverwork would be his future.

    Over the course of the following years Doron’s father taught him the rudiments of silversmithery. From that point onward Doron began to work on his own.

    Move to Tzfat

    Doron lived and worked in Jerusalem for many years. He moved to Safed with his young family in the early years of the 21st century where he began to create Kabbalistic-inspired silverwork. At first he worked in his small home and sold his jewelry there, but as more and more clients became interested in his work he opened a studio/gallery along Tzfat’s Yosef Caro Street in the Old Jewish Quarter.

    Inspiration

    Doron’s work is inspired by the designs that he sees in his imagination. Tzfat plays a role in inspiring his work, he says, becas

    ue the city offers a spiritual dimension to its residents’ day-to-day labors. Doron copies popular designs but he also creates one-of-a-kind designs and commissioned works, many of which are based on traditiona Jewish, Yemenite and Kabbalistic themes and imagery.

    Items for Sale

    Doron crafts a wide range of silverwork but his jewelry, mainly rings and charms, are his most popular items. He works with gol

    d and silver but creates most of his pieces from silver gold items are so costly.  Many of his pieces include inscriptions from Jewish prayers while others have Biblical verses inscribed. He also creates pieces with semi-precious stones such as garnet, topaz and amethysts.

    Doron also weaves Hebrew letters together into pieces in which the designs become part of the jewelry. His gallery displays rings, pendants, tailsman pieces, earrings and bracelets. There are complete sets that correspond to themes such as love, friendship and the Magan Avraham — Seal of Abraham.

    Judaica

    In addition to his jewelry Doron creates different types of Judaica. His gallery exhibits mezuzza covers, candlesticks and kiddush cups. He also works on commission, crafting pieces for private collectors that show Jewish-inspired scenes woven into the silverwork.

    Studio and Gallery

    Doron’s studio-gallery is located on Yosef Caro Street, just a few meters away from the Joseph Caro Synagogue. Visitors can watch him at work. Doron only exhibits his own silverwork, although his gallery also displays  the paintings of artist Binny Shalev. Contact Doron at dorongallery@gmail.com or 052-379-4453.

     

     

  • Asia Katz

    There are numerous galleries in Tzfat where works of Israeli artists are exhibited, but Asia Katz’s small Safed gallery displa

    Asia Katzys the works that she creates in her Safed studio.

    Background

    Asia Katz was born and raised in Bulgaria. She studied photography in the Sofia “Ulius Fuchic” school of photographic arts and furthered her studies in Germany. Asia started her art career by specializing in color photography. After her 1991 immigration to Israel she moved to Tzfat and established a small gallery where she began to exibit her work.

    Within a short amount of time Asia found herself experimenting with different styles of drawing and painting. Visitors can see her new techniques today in her gallery which is located on Josef Caro Street, across from the Josef Caro synagogue.

    Style

    Asia creates her paintings and drawings with a mix of different media which include water colors, oils, acrylics, pencils

    and ink. She aims to encourage the viewer to look at her work in different ways — each time, viewing it from a fresh perspective. One of her best-known multi-media works is “Still Life in Space” which was painted using more than thirty different water colors.

    Asia combines multiple styles as she creates modernistic, cubist-styles drawings and paintings. The various approache

    s that she employs include include traditional, modern, folk and contemporary art styles.

    Themes

    In her paintings and drawings Asia concentrates on depicting people and objects and exploring how they interact with each other and the world around them. Each picture tells its own tale. Some, like “Life Story,” involve a serigraph progression of scenes that fuse together to relate a progressive story.

    Many of Asia’s works feature women as protagonists and depict women’s interactions with each other and with surrounding characters and objects.

    Recent Work

    Some of Asia’s recent pieces involve mixed-media works. These include Beauty on a Bicycle, Two Women with Fruits, Dreaming Girl with Smile and 3D Projection of Woman.

    Exhibition

    Asia maintains a permanent exhibition on Yosef Caro Street in Tzfat’s Old Jewish Quarter. She has exhibited extensively in Bulgaria, Germany,  France, Israel, the United States and Argentina. Collectors from all over the world display acquired her pieces in their collections.

  • Raphael Abecassis

    Raphael Abecassis is a world-renowned Sepharadi-Israeli artist whose unique style combines Jewish symbols, S

    Raphael Abecassis

     

    ephardic motifs and modern composition into beautiful celebrations of color.

     

    Beginnings

    Abecassis was born in Morocco and immigrated to Israel with his family at age 3. He began to study art at age 21, though he had never studied – or even painted – prior to that event. From that time, Abecassis hasn’t stopped painting. He continues to evolve as he fuses his vision of the painting styles of Jewish masters of past centuries with 21st century style and composition.

    Abecassis prefers to concentrate on biblically-inspired art. He employs themes of Jewish mysticism and imbues his artwork with deep spiritual meanings which he expresses with colorful, vibrant imagery. Abecassis kebubot – Jewish marriage contacts – which he decorates in exquisite detail, are well-known.

    Style

    Abecassis employs an unorthodox painting style that connects him, as the storyteller or lead actor, to the painting process and its story. In fact, the name Abecassis derives from the Arabic “Abu” – elder – and “cassis” – storyteller. He uses a “Decoupage” painting technique in which he lifts layers to transform a conventional painting into a three-dimensional creation. As he works, he cuts the layers of the painting and separates them manually. The story unfolds as he plays with the layers, creating a sense of dimension and perspective. Abecassis receives his artistic inspiration as he paints and creates. Thousands of images from the world of Kabbalah pass through his mind at any one time, and then he organizes the images as vignettes of stories.

    Contact

    Abecassis lives in Netanya but maintains a home in Tzfat. His Tzfat gallery is located in the Fig Tree Gallery at Alkabetz 18 in the Old Jewish Quarter. He can be reached at abecassis@canaan-gallery.com or by calling 04-6974449. CONTENT

  • Gadi Dadon

    Gadi was born to an ulra religious Moroccan family in Bnei Brak, Israel. The artist’s parents were from Morocco. His m

    Gadi Dadon

     

    other married at 13 years old to a man who worked with his father. The two men hand decorated

    saddle blankets. Gadi’s father and grandfather traveled from village to village in the Atlas Mountains selling the blankets.

    In kindergarden Gadi remembers his father being very impressed by a picture he drew and his father’s reaction is where Gadi’s inspiration for drawing comes from. The aspiring artist drew pictures of people, ghosts, and giant spiders. He remembers drawing scary pictures which depicted things he learned about the holocaust.

    In Search Of The Artist’s Way

    At age 14 Gadi was accepted into an art school in Tel Aviv called Vitzo Tsarfat (France). Unable to attend do to financial hardship in the family, Gadi became discontented in his life and left the ultra religious world to explore himself and life’s options.

    In the ‘90’s Gadi traveled around the world and suported himself by painting sidewalk murals in Tel Aviv, South

    Africa, and Germany.

    Gadi returned to Israel in 1999. After a long inner struggle the artist found his truth in Judaism and returned to a religious life.

    Settling Down

    In 2002 Gadi married and moved to the mystical city of Safed. He began painting in his home where he and his wife tried to survive on nothing: but everyone who passed through his house and saw his work sensed his talent and told him to open a gallery, open a gallery. The municipality of Tsfat commissioned him to paint street murals around the town.

    The self taught artist derives his inspiration from the religious society around him.

    Gadi manages to capture the spirit of the people in his paint and, with his brush, molds it onto the canvas. The light of the life shines through his landscapes of the ancient mountains and mystical views.

    Gadi Dadon exhibits at the Iris Gallery on Josef Caro Street in Tzfat. He can be reached at 972-4-6970163.

  • Robert Rosenberg

    From Kazakhstan to Tzfat

    Robert Rosenberg

     

    The Jewish community of Kazakhstan is not an ancient one, but Kazakhstanian Jews have a close and patriotic tie to

    thei

    r country. Before Stalin, few Jews lived in Kazakhstan, although there were small pockets of Bukharian Jews and Juhuros, whose roots are believed to go back many hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The vast majority of Kazakhstanian Jews, however, are descendents of Jews who were forcibly relocated from Western Russia by Stalin, or Jews who fled East ahead of the Nazis during WWII.

    Through time, the Jews of Kazakhstan have created an organized Jewish community with institutions and associations for their own communal and religious needs. They feel connected to the land which provided a home to their parents and grandparents and have been accepted by the native Kazakhstanis as friends and neighbors.

    This is the homeland of artist Robert Rosenberg, who was born in Alma-Ata to Eastern-European “Ashkenazi” Russian parents. His talents as an artist were noticed when he was quite young, and he was sent to study at the Alma-Ata Art College, and then at the prestigious Art Institute in Alma Ata. He was a successful artist when he decided, together with his wife and mother-in-law, to immigrate to Israel in 1994, settling almost immediately in Tzfat. He was accepted into the Israel Painters and Sculptors Association, and opened a gallery in Tzfat shortly after his arrival.

    Rosenberg quickly became known as an “Israeli Artist”, as opposed to a Russian artist who had been transported to Israel. This is because his paintings are so Israeli in nature – his paintings thrive in Israel’s light, and he searches out Israeli scenes to paint, both those of nature – mountains and valleys, groves and orchards, fields and gardens – and scenes of Israelis’ towns and cities.

    Soaring Imagination Amidst Realism

    His brush strokes allow the viewer to feel the heat of the summer or the cool of the winter. His vivid colors are particularly suited to paintings of his adopted town, Tzfat, with its stone walls, cobbled lanes and tiled roofs. The subjects, themes and compositions of Rosenberg’s paintings may change, but the sweeping expanse of the horizon is frequently visible, as Rosenberg encourages the imagination of the viewer to soar while taking in the details of the painting. Though his works include many paintings of Jerusalem, the desert, the sea, and the Greek islands (in addition, of course, to Kazakhstan) Rosenberg is particularly intrigued by the landscape of Israel’s North, and is the most frequent subject of his paintings as he brings to life the nature of the Galilee.

    Rosenberg’s gallery is located on Yosef Caro Street in the Old City of Tzfat. He can be contacted at (052)345-0421 or roberoz@yahoo.com

  • Jan Menses

    Conceptual Art

    Jan Menses: Dutch Kabbalistic Artist

     

    Visitors walking through the Artists Quarter of Tzfat sometimes encounter an elderly gentleman sitting in the quarter’s ma

    in public square, the Ma’ayan HaRadum. The man strolls around the area leisurely, and is always ready to chat with neighbors and passer

    -byers about the weather, his cat, world politics, or any of a dozen topics as though he has all the time in the world.

    Few would guess that this man is Jan Menses, one of the Artist Quarter’s most well-known and prolific artists. Jan’s personal story is as interesting as his art. Born in Rotterdam in 1933, he lived through the bombing of his city and the subsequent Nazi occupation. After serving in the Dutch army and traveling extensively, Jan ended up in Morocco and decided to convert to Judaism. He married the daughter of a Kabbalistic scholar, and his Orthodox Jewish faith is reflected in his art.

    Menses’s artistic style is a somber monochromatic one. His drawings, which sometimes evolve into paintings, are organized around concepts – one concept can produce dozens of drawings. The concepts are conceived around Jewish and Kabbalistic themes, and

    although there are only a half-dozen or so such themes, Menses works on the drawings and paintings for each theme for years, sometimes decades. Three of Menses’s best known groupings are “Kaddish” (the Mourner’s prayer), “Klippot” (the outer “peel” that Kabbalistics teach needs to be discarded by people who want to let their inner goodness shine), and “Tikkun” (self-correction). However each of these series also connects to a deeper meaning which become evident as the series develop. Kaddish connects to the lost souls of the Holocaust, Klippot is tied to the capacity for evil in man and the passions which can arouse this evil, and Tikkun associates with the theme of Redemption.

    Kabbalistic Series

    For each series, Menses’s changes elements of his style in order to fit the temperament of the subject at hand. For his Kaddish series, Menses’s strokes were grand and billowing, yet soft and sweeping, in keeping with the idea of the innocent souls which were lost in the Holocaust. His Klippot series’ strokes utilize sharp edges and hard lines, as he explores the idea that each of us struggles with outer layers of unnecessary “baggage” as we try to break through to our inner selves.

    Menses’s latest series, and the one that he continues to develop till today, is Tikkun, which he translates as “Redemption.” Here, he examines the idea of the coming of the Messiah and the ingathering of the Jewish people, which, Jewish tradition teaches, is hastened by charity and good works (each person doing his “tikkun”) and symbolized by the rebuilding of the Third Temple. Menses starts his series by developing the concept of the Temple, a conceptualization which expands one drawing after another. The later paintings show the emerging presence of a figure….painting by painting, the figure becomes clearer as the concept of a messiah is envisioned.

    Menses continues to work in Tzfat on a part-time basis, and his gallery is open during the summer months – it sits above the Ma’ayan HaRadum square, with Jan Menses sitting outside, pleased to show and explain his exceptional work to all. He can be contacted at tikkun@janmenses.com

  • Sarit Rubin

    Rosh Pinna and Tzfat

    Sarit Rubin

     

    Rosh Pinna is a small town nestled into the mountainside only a 15-minute drive down the hill from Tzfat. A walking tra

    il also links the two towns, and a brisk walker can start the trail in Tzfat and reach Rosh Pinna in about an hour.

    Yet the two towns are polar opposites in history, character and population, and most people who are attracted to Tzfat are not drawn to Rosh Pinna, and vice versa. Tzfat is ancient, mystical, non-materialistic and religious, while Rosh Pinna, established by Zionist pioneers as an agricultural community in the 1880s, is hippish and yuppish, secular and “cool”.

    Yet both communities tend to attract people who are looking for an “alternative” life-style, away from the rat race of Israel’s center, and the residents of both Tzfat and Rosh Pinna feel affection and connection to their brethren on the other side of the windy

    , twisty road that links the two towns.

    Both towns have a strong artist population and an extensive array of galleries. While Tzfat’s galleries lean towards Judaica, mysticism and religious themes, in Rosh Pinna’s galleries one can find more general and eclectic art. Sarit Rubin is one artist who is able to live and exhibit in Rosh Pinna’s artist community while finding a niche in Tzfat’s art world as well.

    Paintings of the Galilee

    Sarit is originally from Tel Aviv, but decided to move to Rosh Pinna in 1978, where she has successfully built and developed her art, which concentrates on the landscapes of Israel’s Galilee. Sarit emphasizes colors and staining in her paintings, alternating between oils, acrylics and water colors. Sarit emphasizes light and depth in her works, which are inspired by the nature and landscapes surrounding her Rosh Pinna studio.

    “Vivid” is a word which most accurately describes Sarit’s use of colors as she paints the mountains, hilltops, flowers and plant life of Northern Israel. The colors seem to jump out as one views her paintings, giving the impression that the flower is ready to be sniffed, or the sun will continue to rise as one gazes at her works.

    In only one series of paintings has Sarit deviated from her usual landscapes – she has painted a series of paintings which explore women. Sarit’s women are mostly nudes, though some are clothed….all, however, are seen relaxing among the fields and forests which, one imagines, are Sarit’s beloved Galilee.

    Sarit can be contacted at 052-2256006 or. info@saritrubin.co.il.  Her Tzfat gallery is located on Yosef Caro Street and her Rosh Pinna gallery is located in Rosh Pinna’s restored Old Town.

  • Miriam Mehadipur

    Inspiration of Tzfat

    Miriam Mehadipur: Persian Art

     

    Miriam Mehadipur arrived in Israel from Holland, where she was a student at the Royal Academy of Art.  Her im

    migration

    to Israel and her decision to settle in Tzfat was influenced in part by, as she says,  “the wonderful bright light of Israel” after the “soft light and little sunshine of Holland.”  Her marriage to Menachem Mehadipur was, of course, another compelling reason for coming to Tzfat, but it has been Tzfat’s beauty and its open light and welcoming ambiance which has most influenced and impacted her decision to live and work in Tzfat during last decade, and her gallery in Tzfat’s Artist Quarter has flourished during this time.

    Miriam’s artistic style has been heavily influence by the traditional Persian art of her husband Menachem’s family and culture. Her subject matter is often Jewish-inspired, and as she notes, her usage of colors is expansive and free, in keeping with the mood of openness and brightness that she has come to feel in Tzfat.

    Art And The Bible

    Miriam often explores different aspects of women in her paintings. She has painted female figures from the Bible and strives to portray their serenity and calmness in order to allow the viewer a glimpse at her vision of their inner beauty and strength. Themes of birth and rebirth reoccur frequently in Miriam’s works, and she often paints her central figure encased in a “seed pod”, or perhaps a womb, as an expression of one’s vision of the promise of the future and the potential for growth and happiness that are ever-present in every person’s thoughts.

    Miriam’s goal in her painting is to inspire the viewer to tap into their own world of beauty, peacefulness and joy as they gaze at her paintings. Her “Women of the Bible” series encompasses the Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel, as well as Ruth, Miriam and Queen Esther.

    A number of Miriam’s paintings are exquisitely framed by her husband, Menachem, who designs and carves the wooden frames.  These frames then become an integral part of the painting. Some of these paintings include her Four Mothers Series (the Biblical Matriarchs), as well as Abraham and Sarah and others. Miriam likes to work with oil pastels and ink on paper, oils on canvas, and oils and acrylics on wood, and these mediums lend themselves well to the intricately carved frames that Menachem creates for them.

    Miriam’s gallery is in the General Exhibition of the Artists Quarter. She can be reached at 972 4 6821732 or via email at miriam@mehadipurandcollection.com Check out Miriam’s website.