Photography is the preferred medium of the Bezalel-trained contemporary artist David Adika, born in 1970, who is currently the head of the photography department at Bezalel. From his series on kitsch objects to his research on non-European Jewish identities, Adika highlights the influence of local culture on Israeli modernism. In Leaves, the coloured surfaces come from the Calathea, a popular non-native plant found in Israeli homes, making reference to Israel as a culture of immigrants.
Encompassing modern and contemporary masters who have synthesised wide-ranging international influences from abroad with local traditions, the Phoenix collection provides a scholarly and heartfelt record of the past century’s artistic developments in Israel. In addition to the exhibition, two works from the collection — Mordechai Ardon’s View of the Wailing Wall, and Reuven Rubin’s Olive Trees in the Galilee — will be sold to benefit young Israeli arts.
‘The breadth and quality of this collection is what makes it so powerful,’ says the Phoenix Group’s current CEO Eyal Ben-Simon. ‘In sharing it with the world, we are sharing works of art that we hold dear and that are part of who we are.’
