New Paintings

More than a decade has passed since Gabriel Cohen, winner of the 1987 Jerusalem Prize, has exhibited a body of works in a solo exhibition. During this time the public has not had the opportunity to see new works by the artist, who seemed to have disappeared, never to return, from the Israeli art scene. During these years the artist barely painted and were difficult ones for him for a number of reasons. Even so, occasional glimmers of light managed to filter through. The most notable of them being his participation in the comprehensive exhibition To The East: Orientalism in Israeli Art (The Israel Museum, 1998) and winning the Mordecai Ish-Shalom Prize (1999).

The Jerusalem Artists’ House, which has stood by the artist even at his most difficult times, is honored to now host this exhibition of new works, the fruit of a new breakthrough in creativity that started about a year ago which is now at full strength. In his naive but oh-so-clever style, the new works continue to deal with the same range of images that greeted the public during his early days: the Tower of Babel, Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock, the Eiffel Tower, hot air balloons, messianic figures, all mixed up together, creating a fantastic and fascinating world rich in detail.

Works in the exhibition are on canvas and on paper. It is incredible how the artist manages to use “lowly” paints such as the industrial Polior (house paint) with results of a quality as if they were oil or acrylic paints.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.
The opening is on Saturday 27.4.02 in the presence of the artist.