magazine

Article By Prof. Yeshaiyahu Yarnitzski
"Chords of the Soul"

Man has five senses which connect him with his
surroundings.The brain accumulates experiences
of the senses and the mind can wonder and assume
things and estimate phenonmena through one sense
in order save the use of other senses. For example,
a man see iron being forged and he does not have
to use his sense of touch to know that the iron is hot!
The sense of touch demands that you touch; the sense
of taste demands that you taste; the sense of smell can smell
things far away from the body; the sense of hearing
can hear noise made a great distance away - thunder,
explosions, etc. and the sense of sight is the sense
that works the farthest distance from the body.
The senses of sight and hearing are more spiritual
and can touch the human soul. When a person sees
something beautiful he experiences a spiritual pleasure,
which he can carry with him for many years. This is the
same for the sense of hearing.
The human soul has its own senses apart from those
of the physical body and the senses of hearing and
sight in the soul are the most developed of these
senses. We'll call these senses of the soul "chords".
The main difference between those two sets of senses
is that the "chords" are not autonomous like physical
senses. In nature the sense of sight cannot hear and
visa-versa. In the supernatural, stimulation of the
visual chords can stimulate hearing chords and visa-versa,
exactly as strings of different lengths can echo. The
advantage the chords in the soul have over the external
ones is that soul chords don't need external stimulation
in order to create an echo.

At Mt. Sinai, it is written in the Bible that the
Children of Israel saw the sounds.(Exodus)
The event was so dramatic and frightening and the
people were so tense waiting for the moment they
would see G-d that when they heard the thunderous
noises and they saw the darkness and the fire, it
was way beyond the capabilities of the physical
senses to comprehend. The chords of the soul, which
are much more enriched, versatile and spiritual, gave the
Children of Israel a better understanding of what was
happening. The combination of the two sets of senses enabled
the Children of Israel to fully absorb the enormity of the event
they were witnessing.It was a celebration of body and soul:
the physical senses and the chords of the soul.

During a spiritual experience, a person can see and hear
beyond what he would see with the physical senses.
Then he combines the two systems and he feels a sensation
of spirituality.
These are the sounds and sights which are not from this world.

Comments on the exhibition by Uri Mazar

"On the verge of the Millenium" at "Beit Yad L'Banim", Haifa.

When you enter Uri Mazar's exhibition, you
enter a new world. With the colors, shapes and different
framing you imagine that you are in another world.
In the center of the pictures are interesting shapes
which can be whatever you want them to be, birds, fish, wheels, screws...
You can view them from different angles, lighted
with the help of technology and enhanced with bright colors.
He used different kinds of painting techniques
and you are amazed by what you see: accurate
"carpets" woven with colors and shapes which
awaken interest and fascination.
The artist explains that he has attempted to recreate
the experience of growing up in Tiberias, the
beautiful city on the Kinneret.

However, even without this awareness, the viewer
can find interest in the asthetics, imagination
and complexity of the works. The painter sees
the futuristic world through pink glasses. This time the
artist uses bright and optimistic colors instead of the
dark colors he used in his last exhibition in Ashdod.
According to Uri Mazar, we can anticipate a better world in the future!

Article By Drora Ben-Dori
Exhibition "Life"

Abu Shakra Brothers Uhm el Faham.
A visitor to the exhibition by the Shakra
Brothers, Wahlid, Said, Asam, and Farid, is in for a unique experience.
The four talented brothers are internationally
known for their art.The visitor will enjoy
their works which is pure art,and not the result of
artistic delusions or the use of artificial techniques.
The cat, the subject of Farid's work, with its hair on end,
stares at you with a look that bores into your soul.
The brothers use allegories, in which an ox, cat and horse
tell their stories. You can see in those statements hints of
the political debates about the place of Israeli Arabs in Israeli society.
You can see in their creations a universal theme that
represents life in the shadow of the threat of war.
Whether you choose the local political position or an
international one, you're in for an inspiring experience.

You leave the exhibition with unanswered questions:
a) What is the place of the Israeli Arab as an artist?
b) Does the Israeli Arab artist have the same opportunities
as his Israeli Jewish counterparts?
c) What did the Israei Arab artists have to go through
before they could exhibit in the Kfar Saba City Gallery?
d) Can art change the political situations?
If any of our readers would like to comment on these
questions, you are invited to send your letters to
the virtual magazine or to express your opinions in
our on-line bulletin board.

Article By Nissim Sadon
"Thoughts and reactions to the exhibition
"Sensation" at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY"

In the article titled "Sculptures Without Freedom" which
appeared in "HaAretz" newspaper (September 30, 1999),
Hiam Hendberger reports on the angry reactions to the
provocative exhibition in the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
In this exhibition, about 90 young British artists showed
their works which consisted of repulsive and disgusting metaphores
and subjects. For example, a picture of a child killer whose face
is constructed out of hundreds of fingerprints from children;
a painting of the Virgin Mary covered with elephant feces; parts
of animals, cut off heads; sculptures of children with enlarged
sex organs; a disected pig and more...

As this exhibition was inundated with protests both for and
against, the decision about its continuation was finally brought
to court after the intervention of New York City Mayor, Rudolph Guliani.
It's important to quote some of the comments regarding this controversy.
First of all, both sides agreed that the exhibition was morally disgusting.
Some of the more moderate opinions expressed the view that the exhibits
created a feeling of discomfort, however, the exhibit was one of content
and important messages because modern art was always provocative.
Others, with Mayor Guliani leading the the way, demanded the closure
of the exhibition. Those against the exhibition praised the Mayor
for taking such a stand. The opposition took the musuem to court,
demanding that their budget be cut by $7 million and that the museum vacate
their rented premises on the basis that they broke their rental contract.
On the other hand, after a demonstration by 600 people, the supporters' lawyers,
stated that the Mayor's actions went against the 14th Amendment of the Constitution
by cutting a budget that had already been approved by the City Council.
Whatever side you're on, the principle of "freedom of expression" is on trial.
Even the comprimise, the decision to allow entrance only from
age 17 if accompanied by an adult, wasn't satisfactory because the content
of the exhibition may cause shock, nausea, confusion, panic and fear. Because of this,
it would be advisable for the museum not to act foolishly. And if these reasons weren't
enough, "religious symbols are very sacred to people and shouldn't be touched."

So the questions are asked: Have we lost all ability to judge?
Is everything that is done abroad an example to be copied?
This is the result of an attempt to be "in" and to compete in the
Post Modernism and Avant Guarde styles!!!
And look what happened at Moshe Gershoni's exhibition at the Jerusalem
Museum or to other controversial artists who belong to a "clique" who
make sure that their works will be accepted as representing the spirit
of the era but which are, in fact, the absolute artistic lie.
The problem is that art critics and curators are not brave enough to
declare that "the King is naked" and continue to take a defensive stand with those
kind of artists (See article by Sara Britburg, an anchor of Studio
Magazine, from June 1999, in which she defends Moshe Gershoni,)

Should every piece of art which is created automatically
be considered proper for public exhibition?
Does that fact that an artist has previously exhibited his art mean that
every other piece he creates can also be exhibited?
Why isn't there a standard for evaluating art from all the angles?
Why is every piece of art accepted as "art" without taking pubic
response into consideration?
It seems to me that the Israeli art community needs some shaking up and
some serious soul searching. Where is Israeli art headed in these situations?
There is a connection between these kinds of exhibitions and the anti-social
behaviour we read about in the newspapers and experience every day. This arrogant
attitude is seen in the easy mannor in which so many people disregard the law,
verbally abuse of others and, of course, commit physical violence.
Therefore, all the art organizations that control the media and the
management of all the musuems must discuss this situation and make plans
to emphasize the beauty and good in art and not the art which promotes
violence and disregard for society - all in the name of "Avante Guarde and Post
Modernism art". Even in a democratic society, we must take measure to protect
our youth from events which would prevent them from being able to distinguish
between right and wrong.

Article By Sharon Shapira-Topelberg
The Art of Japanese Prints

This article is the result of an exhibition by the Art students
from Rimon Jr. High School, Ra'anana
A journey to the third dimension
Contrary to reality, painting on cloth is only two dimensional.
Western artists weren't able to solve this enigma until
1435 when Alberti composed the geometrical and
scientific laws of perspective based on the optical
illusion which states that two parallel lines will continue
to appear to get closer and closer to each other until
they connect at a particular point.
The solution from the Renaissance was accepted by
Western artists until modern times.
It was the Impressionists who came up with a new
method for creating perspective and discarded the
"line illusion". Their experiments led the Post-Impressionists
to reject the three-demensional illusion and to try to
create a new reality on the cloth which combined
the visual with the inner spirit and emphasized the
characteristics of this medium. That means the
flattening of the cloth and the color create the 3-D image.

The portraits of the Montefeltro couple

In the year 1472, Piero della Francesca painted
the portraits of Federico da Montefeltro,
the Duke of Urbino, and his late wife - the Duchess Sforza.
These two portraits were painted according to the northern style,
as can be seen in the way he painted the duchess' necklace
and the great care he took with the landscape behind them.
These portraits are considered very unique for the artist's
deviation from a common artistic convention of his day in
which the man was always displayed on the right side of the picture
(because the man was considered more important),
and the woman on the left. In these portraits we see it the other way around:
The man is displayed on the left side of the picture, and the woman on the right.
The explanation for this exception here, however, shows that
Piero did not have much of a choice for not following the trend,
and his choice to deviate from it was actually very simple.
Federico da Montefeltro was a warrior; in one of his training exercises ,
he unfortunately lost the bridge of his nose and his right eye.
If Montefeltro had been displayed from his right side,
he would have been portrayed without an eye.
After understanding the reason for the deviation, we see
that even the unique is not always as unique as it at first seems, and most
exceptions have a logical explanation.
Lior Aviv

The Light Dome of the Berlin Parliament

By Drora Ben Dori
The new German "Reichstag" in Berlin combines
the past and the present. Its special glass dome,
designed by the German architect Norman Foster,
is meant to represent the openness of the new Germany.
The glass dome weighs 800 tons. There are 360 mirrors
inside the dome with a cone-shaped tube which directs the
light to the assembly room and controls the temperature.

planetarum

The Hayden Planetarium in New York

By Drora Ben Dori
The Hayden Planetarium, which was build in
New York, cost 210 million dollars and is the
biggest "Space Theater" in the world.
As opposed to other planetariums where the
spectators sit and look up at the farawary stars,
the Hayden Planetarium gives us the feeling
that we are part of the solar system and revolve
in space with the other stars. In this way we
understand that there are larger and more important
systems than earth. This gives the us a better
insight into the development of the universe.

Article By Drora Ben Dori
Visiting the artist Michael Bar-Am in Dovrat

We discovered Michael Bar-Am's studio by
chance. We stopped for coffee at the "Dovrat"
restaurant on the way to the Kinneret and we
were met by Bar-Am's son who was handing out
fliers inviting people to visit the studio.
As my son and I are curious people by nature,
we jumped at the opportunity and headed
towards the farm. The well-kept paths leading
to the studio are themselves a hint at what is
ahead. After a short walk, we found ourselves
facing Michael and his amazing studio.
He welcomed us warmly and after tea and
cake the discussion turned to his unique method of creating art.
Michael is first and foremost a musician - there's
almost no instrument that he can't play... and if
he doesn't have an instrument, he'll invent one.
In his art, he draws the length and depth of the musical
sounds in solid black lines. This is how he
creates amazing drawings of wonderful and unique shapes.
His studio is filled with his works and the works of
people who have listened to the beautiful musical sounds
Michael plays for his visitors. Visitors are given paper and
black paint and a chance to try their hand at this art form.
We asked Michael why he doesn't use colors to draw
the lines and he replied that he is looking for the biggest
common denominator among people and he believes that
it is a neutral color more than a variety of colors.
We left the Michael's lovely studio and his creations - some
larger than 10 meters - with the feeling that we had to come
back for more.
You are invited to visit the studio and see for yourselves.
Michael Bar-Am, painter and musician-
Shows for the whole family on Sabbat and holidays.
06-6599208 home: 06-6599597