Israeli artists donate works for sale to support Ukrainian refugee artists
Plan to create a temporary art residency program in Israel for artists and art professionals fleeing Ukraine
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
More than 50 Israeli artists are donating works to be sold at the Sotheby’s Tel Aviv space to support Ukrainian artists and refugees, an effort put together by two veterans of Israel’s art world.
The event, Art Aid Israel Ukraine, will take place from March 30 through April 13, with prices ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 for the various works donated by participating artists such as Pavel Wolberg, Natalia Zourabova, Addam Yekutieli, Sigalit Landau, Zoya Cherkassky, Zohadi Kadri, Shai Azoulay and others.
A parallel plan to create a temporary art residency program for Ukrainian artists, curators and other art professionals escaping the war, funded by the sale of the Israeli artworks, has been more complicated to arrange, as the organizers could not yet obtain the proper permissions from the Israeli government.
Curator Svetlana Reingold “cooked up the idea over the phone,” said Larry Abramson, a South African-born Israeli artist who teaches at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design.
“We felt we should do something about the horrors in Ukraine,” said Abramson.
His partner in the effort, Reingold, is the head curator of the Haifa Museum of Art.
She recently made headlines as the curator at the new Ramat Gan Museum of Art, which abruptly closed its doors when the exhibiting artists removed their art following the removal of a fellow artist’s work considered offensive to the ultra-Orthodox community. Reingold resigned from her position in the ensuing fracas.
Reingold and Abramson wanted to organize an emergency artistic residency in Israel for artists, art workers, curators and writers from Ukraine who need to “breathe some air,” or had become refugees and were looking for a safe haven for a period, said Abramson.
The two veteran professionals of Israel’s art world began contacting colleagues from local art schools, studios and universities to mobilize them toward the effort, as well as identifying several artists and art professionals from Ukraine.
They contacted the Ministry of Culture, whose minister, Chili Tropper, was immediately enthusiastic about the idea, said Abramson. But their planning was stalled when the ministry contact later informed them that the Ukrainian artists would have to first apply for visas.
With more than 13,000 Ukrainian refugees entering Israel since the outbreak of war almost a month ago, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has capped the number of refugees ineligible for citizenship to be admitted at 5,000 (in addition to 20,000 who were in the country before the war erupted).
Amid a public outcry, however, she later announced that any relatives of Israelis will also be granted entry without a cap.
“I don’t understand what the moral dilemma is, really,” said Abramson. “I can think of a few Jewish intellectuals in the world who would still have been with us if this same thing hadn’t happened with other countries during World War Two.”
For now, said Abramson, he and Reingold decided to raise money through an art sale to begin supporting professional residencies for Ukrainian artists who have already arrived in Israel as refugees, or can legally make their way to Israel.
The art sale was organized by curator Meital Manor, along with a list of pro bono collaborators, the Petach Tikva Museum Friends Association and Sotheby’s.
Profits from the art sales will also go to Israeli and international organizations supporting Ukrainian refugees, said Abramson.
“We don’t have to sit around and wait for the government,” he said. “And if that doesn’t work, we can support the non-profits who are helping refugees into Israel.”
The art sale begins on March 30, from 6 p.m.
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