The Mishkan Museum of Art in Ein Harod will open its summer season of exhibitions this Monday with five different shows. Featuring the works of realistic painter Eli Shamir, video and sound artist Michael Kovner, sculptor Orna Ben Ami, painter Maria Saleh Mahameed and a special exhibition under the theme of “Sacred Space.”
The last exhibition, titled “Chada Knishta” (Aramaic for “The Age of Redemption”) is an exploration of what sacred spaces might mean now when so many houses of worship had been closed due to pandemic of the novel coronavirus and will showcase works already in the museum’s collection.
Painter Eli Shamir’s exhibition “Borders” is actually co-hosted by the Herzliya Museum of Art with Mishkan presenting paintings that focus on borders and how the human eye defines them whereas the exhibition at Herzliya is focused on his portrait paintings.
Shamir is one of the leading realistic painters in the country today and the exhibition is a rare treat, as it allows the viewer to see a profound exploration of that school of painting in the Israeli context.
Michael Kovner, who is one of the few artists in the country who can boast having served with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the IDF, has taken on the loaded theme of his famous father: the poet, historian and Holocaust survivor Abba Kovner.
The late Kovner was an epic figure in the cultural history of the Jewish people and shaped the ways in which Israelis fought the Independence War, created the Museum of the Jewish People and focused on armed resistance to the Nazis when they studied the lessons of the Holocaust.
In this exhibition, his son attempts to examine key points of their unique relationship by creating a graphic novel with a fictional character called Ezekiel. The exhibition includes videos, sound works and graphics meant to explore the importance of Jewish history from a personal viewpoint of a man in pain.
Sculptor Orna Ben Ami will present “Bundle of Life,” a series of iron works depicting human figures that must face immigration and having their possessions limited to a bag or a suitcase. Painter Maria Saleh Mahamed offers an exhibition named “Tangle of Vines,” which explores her Ukrainian-Arab legacy as the daughter of a man from Umm el-Fahm and a woman from Kiev. Unlike her previous exhibition at the Herzliya Museum titled “Ana Hoon” (“I Am Here”), which was done entirely in charcoal, this panorama offers a wide and colorful celebration of life.
The Mishkan Museum was founded before the State of Israel was created to showcase the best art the Jewish people returning to their land could create.
Now reopening after the long virus-imposed hiatus, the museum can be reached via cab from Afula or visited as part of a guided tour of no more than 20 people in a group. Visitors are asked to wear a mask and follow the Health Ministry restrictions.
For more information, please visit their site.