On June 12th, 2018 will open the exhibition with five Israeli artists at a.antonopoulou.art. The exhibition is set under the auspices of the Embassy of Israel in Athens on the occasion of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel (1948-2018).

The idea to organize this exhibition with five Israeli artists was born in 2016, when I visited Tel-Aviv (in Hebrew means “Spring Mound”) for the first time, because my gallery was participating at Fresh Paint 8 Art Fair, an institution where I still take part.

I was overwhelmed by the liveliness of the city that never sleeps with the careful architecture (Bauhaus buildings at such frequency as anywhere else in the world), organized with incredible respect to the environment and those with mobility difficulties, friendly to cyclists, an extroverted city, where art states its presence wherever you turn your gaze. There are sculptures everywhere, many sculptures, in balconies, in windows, on the façades of enterprises, in parks. There are extraordinary museums, where sometimes you don’t have enough time to visit all their exhibitions. And there are artists everywhere and the new artistic scene that searches identity.

Today I have the pleasure to see my vision of the exhibition with the Israeli artists taking shape thanks to the positive response of the Embassy of Israel in Athens to my proposal. The five artists, who were chosen for this exhibition, represent different sides and dialects of the contemporary Israeli art scene. The artists will be present the opening night of the exhibition.

Esther Cohen, Liat Elbling, Sharon Glazberg, Aviv Keller, Vera Vladimirsky Sharon Glazberg’s video work “Hidden Lake” presents a ritual reminiscent of a rite of passage, the acceptance of a young boy into adult society. According to Derrida, establishing the authority of a father and the transfer of the patriarchal order from father to son are essential to the prospect of collecting and preserving memories. The ceremony ends harmonically, symmetrically. The boy has passed all the tests, the father is satisfied, the perpetuation of the tribe and its memories is safeguarded, and the patriarchal law is preserved for the future. The video piece was shot is Israel. The ceremony is filled with symbols which were borrowed from different cultures, merging together to create a new ritual.

Esther Cohen's paintings are inspired by rituals, narratives and cultural aspects and by the relationship between the wild and the man-made. Her work challenges an inner cultural debate between heritage from the past and traditions that carry on to this day. The motifs in her work move between the symbolic and the poetic, while simultaneously investigating personal aspects and collective memory. In a detailed and refine painting technique, if it is oil on canvas, or drawing with pen on paper the artist deals with mapping and the definition of actual and symbolic boundaries. Cohen investigates the domestication of nature, while documenting the process of growth and withering in the wild, she corresponds with the old masters and botanist drawings in a criticizing and contemporary point of view. Through her body of work she invites the audience to observe closely and consider questions regarding identity, evolution and pertinence and brings to mind the dialectics between local and global, east and west, indoors and outdoors, nature and culture.

Aviv Keller’s embroidery work is a personal language that he has developed as a result of his research for new means of expression. He regards it as a painting and uses the knowledge and tools he has acquired as a realistic painter. Each work takes many months to complete. His subject matters are urban landscapes that he chooses from photos he takes. The images are transferred onto the canvas with a meticulous drawing. Once the image is laid out on the fabric the embroidery work starts. His technique corresponds with an ancient tradition, but the free spirited stitches he uses don't comply with the old rules of embroidery.

Vera Vladimirsky explores her personal biography - As part of settling into the life of Israel, her parents and she moved between many different apartments. And from the age of eighteen, she has continued to move around on her own. For this project, she returned to all the places she once called “home”. She photographed the neighborhoods, the buildings and the apartments where other people now live. She also photographed places she hadn’t lived in which where etched in her memory, and represented for her everything she never managed to become a part of. Using the pictures she took she builds three-dimensional assemblages of new spaces, which she re-photographed within the apartment she had been living in; her 26th apartment.

Liat Elbling employs different media and disciplines in the aim of introducing a discussion surrounding the values of photography and reflecting on its nature. The Interactions Series, alongside with Proposals for Disorder Series are ongoing projects, which started already in 2013. In these series, she adopted a slightly different approach, and now, rather than taking away and eliminating details from existing models, she constructs and composes them in her studio. These structures are some kind of gestures to the world I surrounded by: the street, the city, the view outside my window. She employs various materials: wood, MDF, plaster, Styrofoam, cardboard, and paper, painting each "set" in a solid color, which is also manifested in the printing and framing process. By this action, she returns to art’s basic characteristics: perspective, light and shade.

Esther Cohen. Born in Israel in 1972. BEd Graduate of the “Midrasha” Academy of Fine Arts with distinction. Her work has been shown in Tel-Aviv Museum of art, Haifa Museum, Petah-Tikva Museum and The Artist House in Tel-Aviv among other venues. Her work found in many private collections. Lives and works in Tel-Aviv. She is represented by a.antonopoulou.art, Athens.

Liat Elbling. Born in Israel in 1980. She lives and works in Tel-Aviv. A scholarship student in the “Amitim” program, Alma College for Hebrew culture, Tel Aviv, Israel 2005-2009 Minshar School of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (with honors) Grants and Awards Mifal Hapais Grant for Artist Catalogue Production.URRA, artist-in-resident in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Cité des Arts, artist-in-resident in Paris, FranceBijlmAIR- artist-in-resident in Bijlmer, Amsterdam Zuidoost, Netherlands. Sotheby’s Under the Hammer Award, Fresh Paint Art Fair, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Leon Constantiner Photography Award for an Israeli Artist, Tel Aviv Museum of Art. She is represented by Rosenfeld Gallery, Tel-Aviv.

Sharon Glazberg. Born in 1976 in Israel, she lives and works. 2005 Master of Fine Arts with honors, Haifa University, Israel. 2000 Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors, San Francisco Art institute. 2005 America Israel Foundation, 2003 The Dean Fellowship, Haifa University,2001 Projects 2001 award, Islip Museum, 2000 The New Genera award, San Francisco Art Institute. She is represented by RawArt Gallery, Tel-Aviv.

Αviv Keller. Lives and works in Jaffa, Israel. He studied at the Hatahana Studio School for painting and drawing, Tel Aviv. 2008-2011. Workshop at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, 2011 and at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem . Scholarship. 2008-2011 Scholarship by Hatahana Studio School, Tel Aviv.

Vera Vladimirsky 2010-2014 B.F.A. (cum laude), Department of Photography, Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Jerusalem, Israel. 2013 Department of Photography, University of Brighton, Brighton, England. 2007-2010 Kiryat Ono Photography and Digital Media College, Kiryat Ono, Israel. Prizes and Awards 2016 Young Artist prize, Israel's Ministry of Culture.2014 Academic Excellence Award, Bezalel Academy. Excellence Scholarship granted by 'The Print House' photography workshop. 2012 Academic Excellence Award & Prize, Bezalel Academy.