Featured Artists

Alina Speshilov, b.1973, St. Petersburg, Russia - Speshilov attended art school in Russia and in Israel. She is also a graphic designer. Alina has a degree in archaeology and ancient middle eastern cultures from Tel Aviv University. She is a wonderful draughtsman who relates to urban settings, landscapes and people watching. She has an intuitive feel for the forms of things from people to trees to electricity poles. She seems to depict and deconstruct all at the same time.

Reuven Rubin, b.1893, d.1974 - Israel's greatest painter of the first half of the Twentieth Century. In Tel Aviv they have recently opened the Reuven Rubin Museum in his old house. Rubin was born in Romania and became part of the School of Paris artists. He also studied in Palestine. He went on to become one of the most famous painters of the century.

Visions of the Bible

Philip Rantzer, b.1956, Romania - Rantzer is one of the giants of contemporary Israeli art. His work in sculpture, assemblage, mobiles, mixed media and drawing using found objects are zany, sardonic and magical. Never forgetting his childhood in an Israeli transit camp, he uses found materials to create dada and surreal masterpieces. His work also owes a debt and pays homage to fellow Romanian Constantin Brancusi. Rantzer's works deal idiosyncratically with larger themes of civic justice, class warfare, and environmental destruction. But the objects themselves never lose a sense of childhood wonder and fascination blending horror and humor to jolt the viewer's thought processes.

Maya Attoun, b.1974, Jerusalem - Maya is one of the brightest new artists in Israel. Her works mine the mysteries of existence but use bodily imagery, plant forms, graphs and even ships and rocks to anchor her thoughtsin the real world. Systems are replicated and deconstructed, the rational is questioned and dichotomies abound. Order is disrupted, identities are questioned, but the beauty and awesomeness of life is not forgotten but foregrounded. Ultimately these are environmental and ecological questions about where the human leaves off and the rest of existence begins.She is an installation artist as well as a consumate draughtsman and printmaker. Future works are sure to be groundbreaking and quite unique.

Itzhak Livneh, b.1952 Ashkelon, Israel - An artist of international standing. Livneh is one of the world's best pure painters. His canvases explore the visual process. Early works hinted at a narrative while creating eerie scenes of cars, buildings and seacoasts at dawn or sunset. Later works have explored interior spaces down to folds of clothing, tablecloths and jewelry. Recent paintings have explored the elements of vision: color, spatial relationships, how images are formed. Livneh is about to have a major museum retrospective in Israel. He is the winner of the Jaques O'Hana Prize and the Hermann Struck Prize.

Jan Rauchwerger, b.1942 - Ukrainian born Jan Rauchwerger is one of the finest artists ever to work in Israel. He is now an internationally recognized master. Following a major retrospective at the Israel Museum in 2004, he is having another retrospective in Moscow. While some of his works are reminiscent of Bonnard, he is his own master. Concentrating on the everyday of housescapes and interiors, nudes, still lifes, and domestic animals, he brings a phenomenal sense of color and a sensitivity to every nuance of subject. At first glance, his works seem simple, accessible and non-provocative. After repeated viewings the depth, complexity, and intensity of his vision are revealed. Each of his paintings serves as material for self-analysis and a deeper understanding of universal questions.

Yaacov Agam, b.1928 - The most famous of all Israeli artists. Agam was trained at Bezalel Art School in Israel and received additional instruction in Switzerland. His first major exhibition was at the Craven Gallery in Paris in October, 1953. It was a show of groundbreaking optical and kinetic art. This art which is in motion which changes constantly is a spiritual experience for Agam akin to the mystery of God.

Zvi Shorr, b.1898, d.1979 - The patron artist of Petah-Tikvah. He was influenced by Cezanne and worked all his life in the Post-Impressionist style. Shorr's scenes of Palestine early in the 20th century and his landscapes and still lifes are magnificent images.

Marc Chagall, b.1887, d.1985 - The greatest Jewish master of the Twentieth Century. Born in Russia, he created modern masterworks in Russia and France. In addition to being one of the century's greatest painters, he was the greatest stained glass artist of his time, and a master printmaker. His graphics treat the whole range of subjects from village life to lovers and flowers, Paris, Jewish and Biblical themes, the joys and sufferings of the Jewish people.

Alona Harpaz, b.1971 - Harpaz is a Berlin-based Israeli artist who confronts today's glam world head on with her provocative paintings. These works in baby blue, egg yolk and Lolita pink depict figures seemingly standing on the edge of Eden. Alone with themselves and their fantasies they face a world where human aspirations and beliefs confront a reality check. The glitter and stars meet the recognition of an emptiness at the core in figures emerging or trapped in thick layers of white. The mixture of glamour and doubt makes Harpaz one of the most powerful artists of her generation.