![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/binyamini-nadler-naor.jpg\" "\\"binyamini-nadler-naor\\"")
<\/a>A feature that immediately strikes one when first looking at these works is the wide diversity of materials, techniques and styles. Meira Una Ben-Hanan<\/strong>, for instance, chooses painted slab-built stoneware to give the illusion of boats whirling around the eye of a storm. In contrast, Talya Bar<\/strong>‘s applies a variety of stains and glazes to her small earthenware vessels to produce delicate, painterly effects. And then there is Benjamina Nadler-Naor<\/strong> whose ‘canvas’ is a ceramic plaque with graphic illustrations etched in relief invariably ‘freezing’ a moment of perfect balance. In Pendulum<\/em>, a trio of works, she explores the tension between hands connected to a paper boat by a visible or imaginary cord. Ship of Fools<\/em> is the title that David Morris<\/strong> gives to his wood-fired stoneware pieces fashioned to create two boats stuffed with human heads. The grotesque expressions on their faces \u2013 of pain, fear and horror – provokes in this writer a sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu: Menashe Kadishman’s Fallen Leaves<\/em> \u2013 thousands of metal discs depicting the face of the screaming face of Isaac \u2013 on permanent exhibit at the Jewish Museum, Berlin.<\/p>\n In contrast, boats fashioned by two recent Bezalel graduates offer a safe haven. Shulamit Etzion<\/strong>‘s open hand encloses a tiny leather ship, while Svetlana Faerman<\/strong>‘s deep earthenware bowls act as a sanctuary for a small boat, but their surface interiors also suggests the rush of turbulent waters.<\/p>\n Some fine works project a yearning for the sublime. Among them are Ronen Siman-Tov<\/strong>‘s nocturnal paintings of a man rowing a boat towards a pitch-black horizon. The surreal aspect of his scenes is particularly emphasized in The Branch Boat<\/em> where the boatman has come to rest alongside a thin, bare tree with a single bird perched atop. Equally picturesque is Noa Ben-Nun Melamed<\/strong>‘s splendid photo of a single tree in silhouette, with a toy boat set alongside.<\/p>\n Leonid Gosin<\/strong>‘s installation combining sculpture with ink drawings makes a strong impression which is not evident in the photo reproduced above. It comprises fragments of boats resting on a window frame through which one can view black and white fantasy drawings of ships and deserted buildings. Gosin titles his work Fata Morgana<\/em> – a mirage consisting of multiple, distorted images – but the mysterious element in his work brings to mind the legend of the Flying\u00a0 Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to sail the oceans for ever.<\/p>\n This attractive exhibition, curated by Tirza\u00a0 Yalon Kolton, is open until January 14th.<\/p>\n Benyamini Ceramics Center, 17 Ha’amal St., Tel Aviv (opposite the offices of Haaretz). Tel: 03 – 5182257<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At long last Israel’s Ceramists Association, with a roster of more than 600 members, has a home of its own. Its offices are now housed in South Tel Aviv, in the sparkling new Benyamini Ceramics Center, a non-profit making venture, established through the generosity of the late Yehudit and Issachar Benyamini, ceramic artists and teachers. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nThe nautical theme is expressed in various symbolic ways. A number of pieces touch on human frailty or the burdens of life. Truly effective in this respect are Eva Avidar<\/strong>‘s unadorned lithograph of a weather-beaten boat filled with stones; Ruth Barkai<\/strong>‘s configuration of the sails of a ship where porcelain has replaced sturdy yarn; and Anat Bar El<\/strong>‘s exhibit Phoenix<\/em>, an apparent allusion to this mythical fire-bird’s ability to be reborn from his own ashes. Consisting of an assortment of boat fragments with a cracked or veined appearance (caused by smoke generated during Raku-firing,) this work comes over as a successful metaphor for ‘a bruised and battered world,’ \u2013 Bar El’s own description.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>