Not being much of an art gallery goer, it was odd to find myself at two exhibition openings in a single evening. The first, in a small commercial gallery, was of
Nobuya Yamaguchi , a sculptor we know through the Buddhist sangha. He lives with his Israeli wife in the artists' village of Ein Hod (which itself is worthy of a digression but I won't get into that). The Japanese cultural affairs attache showed up and gave a good introduction in perfect Hebrew, and Nobuya played the amazing musical instrument - something like a hang-drum - that he himself made, accompanied by a clarinet. Both his art and music are wonderful.
The second exhibition, called "Conclusions from Eden" was held in Hansen House and produced by Tama Weiss, who lives in our village. The project included works by a number of artists including my daughter. The art works support an alternative feminist and anti-capitalist reading of the traditional story. I was not aware that the creation myth also tells of the advent of agriculture or that Eve was not the only woman to be mentioned there - apparently there is a whole oral tradition surrounding
Adam's first wife .
As for my daughter, it's the first time her paintings have been shown at an exhibition so she was excited about that. This year, with her full time job, she hasn't had as much time to paint.
The location of the gallery is interesting.
Hansen House, named after Hansen's disease, was built in the 19th century as an asylum for lepers. It was run by the Moravian church. The fine building no longer serves that purpose, but some of the rooms have been turned into a museum.
Tomorrow we have yet another exhibition opening, apparently a retrospective on the work of the late artist from nearby Ramle, Nihad Dabit , in the village gallery. He died earlier this year.
